Men's Lacrosse | 5/7/2022 8:26:00 PM
PITTSFORD, NY – For the third consecutive season, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team stands alone atop the Empire 8 as the Cardinals, who are ranked fifth in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, led wire-to-wire on Saturday in a 30-11 win over second-seeded Nazareth College in the Empire 8 Championship inside Growney Stadium. With the victory, Fisher, which edged its winning streak to seven games, improved to 15-2 overall and has earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship.
The Cardinals will now await word on where and whom they'll face in the opening round of the NCAA Championship. The selection show will air at 9 p.m. on Sunday and can be watched by visiting
ncaa.com.
Sophomore Ben Hammond was named the Championship's Most Valuable Player after going 2-0 in goal and combining to make 18 saves in all. On Saturday, Hammond finished with 12 saves and allowed just nine goals over 55 minutes to improve to 15-2 between the pipes. Brandon Moore played the final five minutes and was credited with having made one save.
In total, 12 different players had at least one point led by Nicholas Miller who finished with five goals, two assists and five ground balls in the win. Jack Mulvihill added five goals and a pair of helpers while Tucker O'Donnell and Matthew Kemmis combined for four goals and eight assists overall. Ian Evans chipped in with two goals and three dimes while Jordan Depetres found the back of the net three times for the Cardinals. Jordan Leuze scored twice and handed out two assists while Jacob Gallina found the back of the net four times on six shots.
Joe Post was dominant at X for Fisher as the Canandaigua native added to his NCAA records after going 24-for-30 in the faceoff game with a game-high 16 ground balls. Logan Grom was 6-for-13 and picked up three ground balls of his own.
It was all Fisher from the get-go as the Cardinals thumped Nazareth over the first 15 minutes of play to take a 10-1 cushion into the second period.
After trading goals over the first three minutes of the quarter, Fisher continued to keep its foot on the gas with Gallina scoring back-to-back tallies as part of a larger 6-0 run before the Golden Flyers netted a man-up goal to make it 17-3 at the break.
Coming out of intermission, Fisher's offense continued to click with head coach
Dave Dobbins' squad rattling off five unanswered goals including two in a span of seven seconds to open up a 22-3 edge.
Nazareth would get one back with 9:31 still showing in the third, but had no answers on the other end as Gallina, Brennan O'Brien and Evans each scored to make it 25-4.
From there, Nazareth would begin to find a rhythm with the Golden Flyers bridging the third and fourth quarters with a 4-0 run, but the Cardinals quick regained control and outscored their rival, 5-3, over the final 12 minutes to punch their ticket to the next week's national tournament.
Brett Randall led Nazareth with five points on three goals and two assists, which gives him an even 100 points on the season with 55 goals and 45 assists.
2022 Empire 8 Men’s Lacrosse Championship Schedule
Wednesday, May 4 - Semifinals
#1 St. John Fisher College defeated #4 Hartwick College, 23-3 – BOX SCORE
#2 Nazareth College defeated #3 Alfred University, 27-3 – BOX SCORE
Saturday, May 7 - Championship
#1 St. John Fisher College defeated #2 Nazareth College, 30-11 – BOX SCORE
2022 Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Championship Most Valuable Player
Ben Hammond, So., GK, St. John Fisher