ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Despite holding an advantage in shots, the third-seeded St. John Fisher College women's soccer team was defeated on Saturday morning by top-seeded Nazareth College in the Empire 8 Championship game, 3-0, at Golden Flyer Stadium.  Fisher, which was making its first-ever appearance in the title game in its history, ended the season at 10-6-1 while the Golden Flyers climbed to 10-6-3 overall and earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship, which is slated to begin next weekend.

After playing a majority of the opening half without a goal, the home team forged ahead in the 34th minute after sneaking a shot into the corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Nazareth would double its advantage in the 49th minute after a corner kick and would extend the lead to three goals just six minutes later.

As the second half ticked away, Fisher looked to break through with three shots in a span of nine minutes, but was able to find the back of the net.  Trailing by three with time running out, the Cardinals continued to push the pace and fired six shots over the final 18 minutes, but the Golden Flyers' defense held firm and kept the high-powered Fisher offense off the board through the final horn.

In all, Fisher accounted for 17 shots in the loss including 10 on goal.  Carli Kovarik finished with four shots on the day while Emma Spelman, Tori Cruz, Isabella Guarracino and Alexis Gossage had two apiece.  Isabella Peracchi, Jennifer Kirker and Jessica Aldred rounded out the offense for Fisher with one shot each.

In goal, Halle Tickell moved to 9-5-1 after making nine saves over 90 minutes of play.