ONEONTA, NY – The visiting St. John Fisher Cardinals lived up to their billing on Saturday afternoon, as the eleventh-ranked squad nationally scored the first ten goals of the game and ultimately defeated the Hartwick women's lacrosse team 18-4. The win improves the Cardinals record to 10-1 and 5-0 in the Empire 8 as they remain tied atop the conference standings with local rival Nazareth. The Hawks drop to 1-3 overall and in the Empire 8 and are currently tied for fifth place.
Fisher's Alyssa Sproule was the story of the game's first few minutes, as she picked up a natural hat trick with the first three goals over the opening 3:01. The Cardinals would eventually lead 10-0 by the time 12:39 had gone by, with two goals from Sydney DeGirolamo and another from Sproule included in that stretch. Cassie Durkin (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville) got the Hawks on the board with 14:29 remaining, as she tipped a ball from the stick of Alexa Matarazzo (Commack, NY/Commack) past the goalkeeper and into the net. The visitors scored twice more over the remainder of the period to take a 12-1 lead into the half.
The second half started off with more of the same. Mackenzie Alexander tallied unassisted in the second minute of the period, and then scored again at the 3:54 mark (this time helped out by Logan Chase). Four more goals over the following 15 minutes, including two more Sproule markers, extended the Cardinals lead to 18-1. The Hawks finished the game with three-straight goals, the first of which was attributed to Rachel Hedden (Burlington, CT/Central Conn. State) and assisted by GinaMarie Wilson (East Meadow, NY/East Meadow) with 6:27 to go. The other two tallies came off free-position shots, first by Emily Schaub (Brewster, NY/Brewster) at 1:43 left and the second by Wilson with 26 seconds remaining.
Wilson was the lone Hawk with multiple points, as she had a goal on a team-high three shots and an assist. She also led the Hawks with three draw controls and had two ground ball pickups. Hedden, Matarazzo, Durkin, and Schaub were the other point-getters on the day. Amy Tracy (Smithtown, NY/Florida Southern College) was tops among all players with five ground balls.
Sproule and Brittany Halpin led the way with five points apiece for Fisher, while DeGirolamo had four and Alexander and Alyssa Sabotka had three each. DeGirolamo also had a game-high seven draw controls, and was followed by Chase in that category at five. Chase was the day's shot leader, with six efforts, three of which went on target.
The Cardinals maintained the advantage in every statistical category. They outshot the Hawks 38-10, including 28-7 on goal, turned the ball over 12 times to 'Wick's 16, were 10-of-11 on clears compared to their host's 9-of-16, picked up 16 ground balls against Hartwick's 12, and had a 17-6 lead in draw controls.
The Hawks play next this coming Wednesday, April 21. They will travel to Albany to take on Russell Sage College, with the opening draw at 4 p.m.
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