Box Score

The St. John Fisher College men's soccer team faced a familiar challenge today, as the team went into its sixth overtime game on a rainy Saturday at Growney Stadium.  It was the second consecutive overtime contest for the Cardinals, who drew a 0-0 tie with Houghton College on Senior Day.  Fisher now sits at 10-5-2 on the year while Houghton, a provisional Empire 8 Conference member, moves to 9-5-2 overall.

The teams had solid chances throughout, but no one could hit mesh to take the victory.  In the first half, Stefan John sent a clean ball through the box that found the foot of Nick Calo who, from the left side, tapped back to the right post.  However, Houghton's goalkeeper Tyler Mastin was able to dive back to his left side and keep the ball out of the net.

Towards the end of the half, Houghton's Michael Amico found the ball at his foot after it took a favorable deflection off a Fisher defender, but he was unable to score, hitting the ball just wide to the left.

The second half was a similar story, with Kyle Metcalfe making a great save off a Cory Martin shot. Metcalfe would finish the game with four saves and his second-straight shutout.

John seemed to have the answer in the 87th minute when he had perhaps the best opportunity of the game.  The senior made an excellent run towards the left post where he collected a cross from Jake Quattrini, but the one-time shot was denied by a great diving save from Martin.

Quattrini, who has scored three overtime game-winning goals this year, set up another great chance in the overtime period with a feed to Garhett Varin; but Varin's hard shot went just high, and the teams walked away scoreless.

Varin led the team with three shots, while the two squads were tightly matched in totals. Fisher held a small 15-14 advantage in shots overall.

The Cardinals will open up postseason play at 2 p.m. on Friday when they host the No. 3 Ithaca College Bombers at Growney Stadium.  Fisher is the No. 2 seed in the Empire 8 Conference tournament.  The winner of that game will go on to play the victor of No. 1 Stevens/No. 4 Elmira.