UTICA, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team remained perfect on the year as the Cardinals made their Empire 8 debut on Saturday with a 19-6 win at Utica College.  With the win, Fisher, which is ranked ninth in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Association poll, improved to 5-0 on the year and 1-0 in the conference while the Pioneers fell to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Empire 8 standings.

After swapping goals to open the game, Fisher took control early after rattling off six unanswered goals including two from Alyssa Sabotka to hold a 7-1 lead.  Trailing by six, the Pioneers would get one back with 8:21 left to play before the break, but Fisher would close out the first half with back-to-back goals from Logan Chase and Sabotka to carry a 9-2 advantage as the second period got underway.

The Cardinals' lead would grow to nine goals just 90 seconds into the second half when Brittany Halpin, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week on Monday, found Chase for a goal before Alyssa Sproule blew one past the Pioneers' keeper to make it 11-2.

Facing an uphill climb, Utica was able to cut the gap to eight goals after scoring with 27:29 still showing on the clock, but the Pioneers' defense was unable to match Fisher's pace as the Cardinals posted six of the game's next seven goals including three from Sydney DeGirolamo to hold a 17-4 cushion.

With the game well in hand, Fisher gave one back with 9:00 minutes to play, but countered with a pair of goals from Sproule to open up a 14-goal lead.

DeGirolamo paced Fisher with seven points including four goals and three assists to go along with a game-high 10 draw controls while Sproule contributed four goals of her own along with one helper in the win.  Halpin finished with two goals and two assists. Chase and Sabotka each had a hat trick for Fisher while Kathleen Salanger scored twice.

Claudia Mocciaro was a force in net for Fisher as the senior made four saves and scooped up three ground balls.

The Cardinals will step out of Empire 8 play at 4 p.m. on Wednesday when they travel to nationally-ranked Cortland for a non-conference battle with the No. 22 Red Dragons.