PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College field hockey will put its six-game winning streak on the line at 2:30 p.m. on Friday as the second-seeded Cardinals take on third-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championship in Washington, Pa.  Top-seeded and nationally-ranked Washington and Jefferson will face fourth-seeded Hartwick College on the other side of the bracket with the winner of each semifinal meeting at 1 p.m. on Saturday with the conference title and a trip to the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship on the line.

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Until then – have a look at some notes below to better familiarize yourself with what's ahead.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: We touched on it in the opening paragraph, but the winner of the Empire 8 Championship will receive the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship, which is slated to begin next week.  The Cardinals have their sights set on another appearance in The Dance after winning the conference crown in 2016.  That year, Fisher made the most of its opportunity with a win over Rhodes College en route to a Sweet 16 appearance.

PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME: Momentum can often have an impact on an outcome and the Cardinals appear to be catching fire at the right time.  Entering Friday's game, head coach Victoria Bothner's squad has strung together six wins in a row.  Take it a step further and Fisher has posted a W in seven of its last eight games.  Over its last six games, Fisher has scored 5.5 goals on average while allowing just six goals to its opposition – a margin of 27 goals.  The streak began on October 12th as the Cardinals tied their program-record for goals in a single game in a 9-0 defeat of Sage.  Since that time, the team has beaten Oswego State, The College at Brockport, Stevens, Nazareth and Hartwick.

HERE'S THE POINT: Offensively, Fisher is second to none in the Empire 8.  Through 18 regular season games, the team leads the conference and ranks 16th overall in the nation at 3.6 goals per game.  The Cardinals also lead the Empire 8 and rank 15th overall in Division III in points per game at 9.83.  The next closest Empire 8 team is Hartwick at 24th with 8.76 points per game – more than a point less than Fisher.

LEADING THE CHARGE: The Cardinals feature not one, but two big time scorers in Lauren Fazio and Bre Socker.  The duo ranks first and second, respectively in the conference in goals and points this season.  Through 18 games, Fazio, who now ranks second all-time at Fisher in points and goals, leads the conference and ranks 11th in the country with 22 goals and sixth overall in the nation with 54 points.  To put that into perspective, Fazio alone has more points than the top two scorers for W&J, Stevens or Hartwick combined.  Socker can also take over a game as the sophomore owns two hat tricks this season and ranks second in the conference with 19 goals.  Socker leads the team with 13 assists and is tied for 11th in the country with 51 total points so far.

BUT WAIT…THERE'S MORE: So we touched on how key Socker and Fazio are to Fisher's offensive production, but they're not the only ones who can put a hurting on the opposition.  Freshman Gianna Palma has played a significant role down the stretch for Fisher as the Brighton native ranks third on the team with 20 points.  Palma's 10 assists this season is the second-most in the conference while her 46 shots is among the most of any rookie in the conference.  Additionally, Lindsay Scott, Reghan Amoroso and Alyssa Andres have played significant minutes this season.  We would be remiss not to mention junior Kelly Bergamo who was lost due to injury.  In 13 games, Bergamo had 18 points with seven goals including four game-winners.

NOT IN HER HOUSE: Senior goalie Ashley Maynard has been one of the conference's top keepers for the last three years and 2018 was no exception.  Maynard enters the championship with a 14-4 overall record and ranks third among all Empire 8 goalies with a 1.33 goals against average.  The Rochester native has five shutouts to her credit and has the fourth-most saves in the E8 with 98.  For her career, Maynard is 43-9 with 247 saves and a 0.99 goals against average. 
      
SCOUTING W&J:  The Presidents were the only unbeaten team in the conference standings this season at 8-0.  Washington and Jefferson holds a 15-1 overall mark and was ranked 18th in the nation this week by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association.  The team's lone loss came just last week on October 24th in a 2-1 decision against Juniata.  As a team, the Presidents, who won the conference title in 2017, wont overall anyone on the offensive end of the field as they rank sixth in the Empire 8 in scoring average (2.50), however, what they lack offensively, they more than make up for on defense.  As a team, Washington and Jefferson leads the conference in opponents scoring average at a paltry 0.31 goals per game.

The host still features two strong scoring options led by Rachel Buyan's 29 points on 13 goals and three assists.  Alana Boyd owns 24 points in 16 games while Claire Shaak ranks third on the squad with 12 points to her credit.

Defensively, Washington and Jefferson's goalie hasn't been tested all that much as Rena Israel has faced just 34 shots all season – only four of which found the back of the net.  Israel leads the conference in shutouts with 11 and sits atop the leader board in goals against average at 0.82.
 
SCOUTING STEVENS:  Stevens earned the third seed after posting a 6-2 mark in conference play in 2018.  The Ducks, who finished the year at 12-6 overall, ranked fourth in offensive production at 3.0 goals per game while on the defensive side of the field, Stevens allowed just over one goal per game, which was the second-lowest mark for any Empire 8 team this season.

Like W&J and Fisher, Stevens, which led the conference with 343 shots, has two big-time scorers led by Ireland Tawney who has 27 points in 18 starts.  Skylar Migliaccio ranks second on the team with 26 points overall.  Hannah Silvestri and Brynn Froehlich have combined to produce 31 points.

In goal, Stevens turns to Emily Franco who had 79 saves in 17 starts this year.  Franco allowed just 1.23 goals per game and accounted for an .808 save percentage.

SCOUTING HARTWICK: The Hawks earned the fourth and final seed in this year's field despite finishing the regular season with a 5-0 loss against Fisher.  That blip aside, Hartwick had been playing well and had posted five straight wins.  The Hawks are an extremely efficient team on the offensive side of the ball and rank second in the Empire 8 with nearly 3.3 goals per game.  The team rolls out a potent defense as well that holds its opponents to a 1.65 goals per game.
Perry Willett leads Hartwick and ranks fourth in the Empire 8 with 32 points thus far.  Willett is flanked by Maria Stalder's 23 points while Katie Meuse has contributed 15 points to Hartwick's cause this season.

Allyson Osborne has started all 17 games in goal for Hartwick and has produced a 1.65 goals against average to go along with a .692 save percentage.  In all, Osborne has made 63 total saves.

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