ROCHESTER, NY – Fresh off their first ever postseason Empire 8 win over Russell Sage in the First Round, the fourth-seeded Hartwick women's lacrosse team will have a tougher test in the Semifinals, as they will take on a top-seeded St. John Fisher squad that is undefeated in conference and ranked tenth in the nation in Division III. The game will be played in St. John Fisher's Growney Stadium on Friday, April 30th at 4 p.m.
The Hawks earned their spot in tomorrow's Semifinal on Tuesday, when they sailed by visiting Russell Sage, 19-4. After they grabbed a 2-1 lead, 'Wick scored 10 consecutive times in the final 20 minutes of the first half to claim a 13-3 lead at the break and essentially put the game away. On the day, GinaMarie Wilson (East Meadow, NY/East Meadow) was one shy of tying the career-high nine points she had against the Gators in their regular season matchup six days prior, scoring four times and assisting on a further four goals. Emily Schaub (Brewster, NY/Brewster) also tied a career high that was set in that regular season game in Albany, scoring five times. Claudia Pollaro (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) had an excellent day in all facets of the game, scoring twice, dishing out two dimes, scooping up three ground balls, causing a turnover, and controlling a career high 10 draws.
St. John Fisher, which earned a bye to the Semifinals by virtue of their top seed, has firm control of the all-time series between the two programs, having won 17 of the 20 contests coming into this season (including every matchup from 2006 forward). This year was no different, as the Cardinals came to Wright Stadium and scored the first 10 goals en route to an 18-4 victory. Five Fisher players had three or more points in the game, led by Alyssa Sproule's five goals and Brittany Halpin's two goals and three assists.
The Cardinals, who are 12-1 this season, have three players with 40 points or more. Sydney DeGirolamo leads the way at 46 points, via 20 goals and a team-high 26 assists, and is also tops of all of her teammates with 97 draw controls. She leads the Empire 8 in assists per game, at 2.86, and in draw controls per game, at 8.14. Halpin is next with 43 points on 28 goals and 15 assists, while Sproule leads at 35 goals and has five assists. Logan Chase is not too far under 40 points herself, with 35 (26 goals and nine assists), and there are a further six Cardinals that average at least one point per game. Claudia Mocciaro has picked up the bulk of the time in net, starting all 13 games and playing 603:39 to the tune of a .482 save percentage and a 4.37 goals allowed average.
As a team, St. John Fisher is at or near the top of just about every relevant offensive category in the Empire 8. They lead with 19.00 goals per game, 36.00 shots per game, and 27.43 shots on goal per game, and are second with 10.29 assists per game (although they rank first in assists overall). Hartwick ranks fourth in all of those categories, with 11.80 goals per game, 24.00 shots per game, 18.80 shots on goal per game, and 5.00 assists per game. The Cardinals have controlled by far the most draws in the conference, with their 130 way above the next team's 80, and are second with 131 ground balls scooped. They have cleared the ball at an over 90% clip (69-of-76) in conference this year, while Hartwick is at a bit over 72% (63-of-87) in that category. Fisher has also been extremely effective defensively, allowing just 21 goals in seven games for an average of 3.00 per contest, while the Hawks have let in 66 tallies in five games for an average of 13.20 a game.
Live stats for Friday's game can be found here, and the live video stream can be found here. Attendance will be limited to active St. John Fisher students, faculty, and staff who are being tested weekly as well as two family members of each St. John Fisher student-athlete, as described here.
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