Women's Lacrosse Has Season Ended by No. 11 York in NCAA Opener - St. John Fisher University Athletics (2024)

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• Box Score

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse | 5/14/2022 2:57:00 PM

YORK, Pa. – The St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team had its season ended on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Championship as the Cardinals fell to nationally-ranked York College of Pennsylvania, 9-6, at Kinsley Field. With the defeat, the Cardinals closed out their campaign at 10-9 overall while the Spartans, ranked 11th in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association, improved to 15-5 and advanced to Sunday's second round where they'll host No. 12 Wesleyan (Conn.).

After nearly 10 minutes without a goal, the Spartans got on the board at the 4:22 mark of the opening quarter and would double their advantage just 33 seconds later courtesy of a free position goal.

Trailing 2-0, Fisher called a timeout to regroup before Alexandra Strollo won the ensuing draw control to give the Cardinals possession. Facing a two-goal gap, the ball found its way to Bianca Giacona who dodged to her right before bouncing one into the lower corner of the goal to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.

As the period wore on, Fisher looked to net the equalizer as Mary Fiorentino worked her way through the middle before uncorking a shot, but the Spartans' goalie came up with a big save to preserve the team's one-goal advantage as the period turned over.

With a fresh 15 on the clock, Fisher won the draw and worked its offense as Fiorentino earned a free position chance. From there, the freshman kicked it out to Sydney Carpenter who moved it around the horn to Giacona who went top shelf to knot things at two goals aside.

The draw would be short-lived, however, as York gained possession and quickly advanced into Fisher's zone before unloading a shot just under the crossbar to reclaim the advantage with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

With time ticking away, the Cardinals continued to apply the pressure and tied the game just over 60 seconds later on a free position tally from Cara Landry, but the Spartans found a rhythm and closed out the quarter with two unanswered goals over the final 12 minutes to hold a 5-3 edge at halftime.

Coming out of the break, York peppered the Cardinals' backline as the Spartans bridged the second and third quarters with five straight goals before a free position mark from Carpenter with under a minute showing on the clock broke the home team's rhythm and made it 8-4.

Trailing by four, Fisher would win the draw and set up its offense with 20 seconds remaining in the quarter. After working the ball around, Carpenter fed Courtney O'Dea in front of the cage as the junior beat the Spartan's keeper as time expired to make it 8-5 heading to the fourth.

With three goals separating the two teams and three minutes having ticked down in the final frame, Fisher was awarded a free position as Farrah Zalla netted her 27th goal of the season and cut the York lead down to two, 8-6, with 12 minutes to go.

Having surrendered three goals in a row, York interrupted the Cardinals' momentum with a score of its own and tightened up defensively as it held Fisher to one shot on goal over the final eight minutes to pull out a 9-6 win.

In goal, Lilly Goodsell yielded nine goals over 60 minutes and kept the Cardinals close after making nine saves in all.

After advancing to the Final Four last year, Fisher concludes another championship season after the team claimed its 12th overall Empire 8 crown earlier this month and advanced to its 10th consecutive NCAA Championship. In all, eight members of the program were named All-Conference by the Empire 8 with head coach Linda Michele, alongside assistants Madison Corcoran and Mark Michele, being named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year while Carpenter was voted the league's Player and Rookie of the Year.

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