KEUKA PARK, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's soccer team was unable to clinch a spot in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship on Wednesday afternoon as the Cardinals fell short in a 2-1 loss to the Keuka College Wolves at Jephson Community Athletic Complex. With the defeat, the Cardinals fell to 4-8-3 on the season and closed out the day with a 3-3-1 mark in the conference. Keuka moved to 4-10-2 following the victory and is now 2-5-1 in the conference standings.
The Cardinals looked to set the tone early, but found themselves in a one-goal hole after the Wolves managed to slip one past
Jadon Schlierf in the 36th minute after heading in a free kick.
From there, Keuka opened the second half with a goal just 55 seconds from the opening whistle after sending a crossing pass in front that found its mark to extend the home team's edge to two.
Facing an uphill climb, Fisher cut the gap in half in the 76th minute when
Joe Barraco connected with
Jackson Bishop who netted his third goal of the year to make it 2-1.
As the second half wore on, Fisher looked to score the equalizer after being awarded four corner kicks in a 10-minute span, but the Wolves' defense held firm through the final horn.
In all, Fisher was credited with having taken 17 shots led by Bishop who had five in the loss.
Cam Webb finished with three shots while
Ryan Collins,
Brandon Andracki and
Tim Brown had two shots apiece.
In goal, Schlierf moved to 4-7-3 after making four saves over 90 minutes of play.
The Cardinals will have one final chance to secure one of five postseason berths into next week's Empire 8 Championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday when they travel to Elmira to take on the Soaring Eagles.
