The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back, as the No. 15 Cardinals cruised to a 13-4 win over Ithaca College on Wednesday at Fisher's Growney Stadium in the Empire 8 Conference season-opener for both teams.
With the win, Fisher improves to 8-0 overall and picks up its first win in men's lacrosse over Ithaca, who had won the first 12 meetings between the two schools.
“Beating Ithaca is another small step forward for our program,” says head coach John C. Johnson, now in his fifth season at the College after coaching for 26 years at Canandaigua Academy. “Our top goal for this season is to win the Empire 8 Conference and starting 1-0 in conference play has us headed in the right direction.”
Fisher took the lead for good just 33 seconds into the contest when sophomore
Kyle Denhoff scored his team-leading 20
th goal of the year. The Cardinals added three more goals over the next 11 minutes – all of which were scored by different players, but were assisted by senior
Chris Schmidt.
The Cardinals, who led 8-3 at intermission, extended its lead to 9-3 on Denhoff's second of three goals with 12:45 left in the third. After an Ithaca goal made it 9-4, Fisher ended the contest with another 4-0 spurt.
It was a career day for both Chris and
Ryan Schmidt (no relation).
Ryan Schmidt scored a career-high four goals, while
Chris Schmidt registered a personal-best four assists. Denhoff enjoyed his fifth game this year with three or more goals.
Jon Cortina stopped eight shots to earn the win in net.
Erich Rassow went 13-for-21 on face-offs and finished with three ground balls.
Cortina and
Andrew Knoblauch scooped up a team-best four ground balls.
Ithaca (2-6), who was ranked as high as No. 12 in the USILA poll earlier this year, was led by Devin Weinshank, who scored two goals.
Fisher will return to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Hartwick College. A win by the Cardinals would mark the second straight year they have started 9-0, tying the College-record for consecutive wins and best start to a season.
