Women's Lacrosse | 5/9/2021 3:32:00 PM
In a battle of the Cardinals, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team upended No. 6 Catholic University of America, 15-9, on Sunday in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Championship at host Franklin and Marshall. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked ninth in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, improved to 16-1 while the Cardinals of Catholic had their season come to an end at 10-1.
Fisher will now advance to its fifth Sweet 16 in team history as the Cardinals will face the winner of top-ranked Franklin and Marshall and No. 16 William Smith next Saturday at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
After swapping goals over the first 15 minutes of play, Sydney DeGirolamo found Brittany Halpin for a goal that pushed the Cardinals ahead, 4-3 with under 14 minutes remaining in the first half.
Trailing by a goal, Catholic would net the equalizer, but two straight tallies from Alyssa Sabotka and Courtney O'Dea set Fisher up with a 6-4 edge with five minutes to play before intermission. Down by two, Catholic responded after winning the ensuing draw control and quickly pushing the pace to cut the gap to one heading into the break.
As the second half got underway, both teams continued to jockey for momentum until Kathleen Salanger found Logan Chase for a goal as the Cardinals netted three unanswered marks in a span of 70 seconds to open up a four-goal lead, 10-6.
Leading by four, Fisher saw its advantage cut in half after back-to-back goals from Catholic, but Chase took advantage of a player-up opportunity after burying one in the corner of the cage to make it 11-8 with under 20 minutes to play.
With time ticking away, Catholic pulled to within two goals, but had no answer on the other end of the field as Fisher erupted for four straight goals to seal the win and punch its ticket to the Third Round.
DeGirolamo, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year on Monday, led Fisher with five points on three goals and two assists along with 12 draw controls while Chase produced three goals of her own in the win. Alyssa Sproule netted a goal and assisted on another while Halpin, Sabotka and Mackenzie Alexander each scored twice in the win.
Claudia Mocciaro improved to 16-1 on the year after the senior made three saves over 60 minutes. The Cardinals forced Catholic in to 23 turnovers on the day and limited its high-scoring offense to just 18 shots overall.