After winning the Empire 8 Conference Women’s Lacrosse Championship on Sunday, the St. John Fisher College women’s lacrosse team (10-6) will host College of Wooster (12-3) at noon on Wednesday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
The Cardinals, who have won seven of their last eight games, posted a 10-9 win over Rochester Institute of Technology in the finals to secure the Conference’s automatic bid and move on to the 26-team Championship for the second time in the last three years.
The Cardinals started off the season with an 0-3 mark playing against some of the nation’s top teams, including NCAA participant Gettysburg College, but have rallied down the stretch to make to postseason. Fisher earned the fourth and final seed into the conference tournament, and upset top-seed and host Stevens Institute of Technology in the opening round before toppling No. 2 RIT.
The Cardinals feature an extremely balanced attack, and have seven players with at least 20 goals on the year. Led by juniors Lauren Glavin (42g, 23a), and Ashley Fenyn (30g, 21a) and sophomores Meg Merriam (36g, 4a), Courtney Clare (34g, 7a), and Mary Stimson (24g, 19a), Fisher has outscored its opponents by 60 goals and averages just over 14 scores per contest. Trish Scudder (23g, 10a) and Jen Springett (22g, 7a) have also been active in the attacking third.
Between the pipes, junior goalie Vicki Sahm has played every minute of Fisher’s last 35 games dating back to the 2008 season-opener. Sahm is already the College’s all-time wins leader (24), and her 216 saves so far rank first on Fisher’s single-season saves ledger. Senior defender Andrea Gunsalus, a two-time All-Conference selection, has frustrated opposing attackers all season, causing a team-leading 22 turnovers while collecting 37 ground balls in 16 starts.
Complete Bracket (pdf)