Matthew Kaiser of the men’s soccer team has been named the St. John Fisher College Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending on November 6, 2016.
M. Kaiser spearheaded the offense in Saturday’s Empire 8 Championship final against Houghton College, helping the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory and the program’s first-ever Empire 8 title. The freshman’s efforts also earned the Most Valuable Player of the tournament as well.
Down 2-0 in the first half of the Championship game in Hoboken on Saturday, M. Kaiser found himself behind the ball to take a free kick and possibly dig into the Highlanders’ lead. The Pittsford native rocketed a low shot that evaded the wall in front of him and found the corner of the net to give the Cardinals their first goal of the game.
Tied at 2-2 with just under 10 minutes left in regulation, M. Kaiser rose to the occasion again. A failed clear by Houghton was put back into the box by Fisher and M. Kaiser collected the loose ball. He sent another low shot towards the goal mouth, beating the keeper to the left side, giving Fisher its first lead of the game. The goal would hold as the game-winner as the St. John Fisher Cardinals’ defense would lock it in for the final minutes of regulation.
With the victory, Fisher clinched its first ever bid into the NCAA Tournament. The team will figure out who and where they will be playing Monday afternoon.
