Men's Lacrosse | 5/3/2023 8:00:29 PM
No. 1 seed St. John Fisher University (9-9) and No. 3 seed Nazareth College (10-8) advanced to the 2023 Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Championship game after earning semifinal wins on Wednesday, May 3. St. John Fisher defeated No. 4 seed Hartwick College, 24-7, while Nazareth went on the road and earned a 20-5 win over No. 2 seed Alfred University.
The Cardinals will host Nazareth in the 2023 E8 Men's Lacrosse Championship game at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 6 from Growney Stadium. St. John Fisher is looking to win its fourth straight Empire 8 Championship, while Nazareth is attempting to win its 11th Empire 8 title in program history and first since 2017. The winner of Saturday's game will earn an automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament.
St. John Fisher and Nazareth will meet for the second consecutive Saturday. The Cardinals clinched the E8 regular season title by defeating Nazareth by a score of 17-9 on April 29. Brady Mason had five goals and two assists to lead St. John Fisher, while Quinn McKercher recorded two goals and five assists for Nazareth.
The Cardinals knocked off Nazareth in the 2021 Empire 8 Championship by a score of 20-6 and defeated the Golden Flyers, 30-11 in last year's title game.
NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 24, NO. 4 HARTWICK 7
The top-seeded Cardinals broke open a close game with a 15-2 scoring advantage in the second and third quarters to record a 24-7 win over No. 4 seed Hartwick.
Timmy Salit led a balanced St. John Fisher offensive attack with six points on four goals and two assists, while Samuel Miller and Matthew Kemmis had three goals and an assist apiece. Jacob Gallina, Ethan Kesselring and Griffin Dautrich tallied two goals each. Dautrich added two assists.
Kemmis caused three turnovers, while Zach Mitrano added a pair of caused turnovers. Scott Reeves went 11-for-17 at the face-off "X": In goal, Ben Hammond made six saves to earn the win.
Matthew Locasto scored twice to lead Hartwick, who had their season come to an end with a 6-6 mark. Kyle McKeemade 12 saves in goal.
As a team, Fisher outshot the Hawks, 54-30, and forced 26 Hartwick turnovers including 12 failed clear attempts. The Cardinals were 22-for-34 on face-offs and 2-for-3 in extra man opportunities.
NO. 3 NAZARETH 20, NO. 3 ALFRED 5
Brothers
Quinn McKercher and
Braeden McKercher scored five goals each and combined for 13 points to lead the Golden Flyers to a convincing 20-4 win at Alfred. The Golden Flyers (10-8) advance to the conference championship game Saturday at St. John Fisher.
Alfred (11-5) scored 42 seconds into the game for the early lead. Less than 40 seconds later, junior Quinn Conroy scored the first of his three goals on the day to knot the score at 1-1. A minute later, senior Greg Bilek scored for the Golden Flyers 2-1 lead but Alfred scored again to tie the game up three minutes into the semifinal.
After six minutes of back-and-forth action, freshman William Meagher scored for Nazareth to start a 13-0 scoring run that lasted until midway through the third quarter as the Golden Flyers took a commanding 15-2 lead.
The McKercher brothers combined for seven goals in the run with Quinn scoring four times, while Conroy added two more goals to his tally. Sophomore Owen Riley scored twice and senior Jack McOsker added a goal in the monumental run.
The teams traded goals with Meagher and Quinn McKercher each scoring for the Golden Flyers through the end of the third quarter as Nazareth took a 17-4 edge into the final period.
Braeden McKercher scored two more goals to start the fourth and freshman William O'Neill scored to give Nazareth a 20-4 lead with 9:32 left to play.
Alfred ended the scoring with its final goal at 2:47 of the quarter.
Graduate student
Eric Almquist played 52 minutes and made 11 saves before senior
Carson Pickeral came in for the final eight minutes and finished with one save.
2023 Empire 8 Men’s Lacrosse Championship Schedule
Wednesday, May 3 - Semifinals (at Higher seeds)
No. 1 St. John Fisher University defeats No. 4 Hartwick College, 24-7 – BOX SCORE
No. 3 Nazareth College defeats No. 2 Alfred University, 20-5 –
BOX SCORE
Saturday, May 6 - Championship
No. 3 Nazareth at No. 1 St. John Fisher – 2 p.m. – LIVE STATS/VIDEO
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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