Men's Lacrosse | 4/23/2022 5:03:00 PM
No one in the history of Division III men's lacrosse has scooped up more ground balls than Joe Post as the senior broke the NCAA's all-time mark on Saturday to help lead the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College Cardinals to a 22-6 win over Hartwick College at Hickey Field.
With the win, Fisher, which is ranked fifth in the latest United States Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, clinched the Empire 8 Regular Season Championship for the second consecutive season and has earned the right to host the upcoming conference tournament with an 12-2 overall mark including a 5-0 record in the Empire 8. Hartwick closed out its afternoon at 5-5, 2-3, respectively.
A four-time All-American, Post picked up 20 ground balls on Saturday and dominated at X with 25 wins over 27 attempts as the Canandaigua native corralled his record-setting 786th career ground ball. Post is nearing another NCAA milestone as he needs just 33 faceoff wins to break the career mark for at 1,191.
Nicholas Miller led all players with seven points on 10 shots as the Ithaca native netted two goals and assisted on five others. Ian Evans produced six goals in the win while Jack Mulvihill, who netted his 100th career tally last week, was credited with two scores and two dimes. Jordan Depetres finished with two goals and a helper while Matthew Kemmis found the back of the net three times for Fisher.
It was all Fisher to begin the game as the Cardinals scored 13 goals over the opening 15 minutes including a stretch of five marks in a span of 3:38.
After taking a 16-2 lead into the halftime break, Fisher came out in the third period with three of the quarter's first four goals including scores by Dugan Doeblin and Brennan O'Brien to hold a 19-3 edge.
As the game wore on, back-to-back goals from Jake Carpenter and Jacob Gallina made it 22-5 before the Cardinals' defense allowed just one goal over the final 19 minutes in a 22-6 decision.
Fisher used four goalies in the win beginning with Ben Hammond who moved to 12-2 on the year after making three saves and allowing one goal over 24 minutes. Jack Gullo let in one goal over eight minutes before Brandon Moore surrendered four tallies and made four stops in 22 minutes. Hunter Gentry played the final eight minutes for Fisher and was credited with having made one save.
The Cardinals will be back in action at 1 p.m. on Saturday when they celebrate Senior Day against Russell Sage College in the team's regular season finale.