KEUKA PARK, N.Y. – Coming off two closely-contested top-20 matchups, the No. 14 St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team began its 2021 Empire 8 schedule with a 26-4 drubbing of the Keuka College Wolves at the Jephson CAC. The Cardinals bettered their overall record to 5-3 and got the win in their conference debut, while the Wolves dropped their second-straight Empire 8 matchup and fall to 0-2.
 
Fisher maintained control of the game with help from its three face off specialists, Joe Post, Logan Grom, and Christian LoCasto, who combined to go an impressive 27-for-34 at the X, a win rate of nearly 80 percent. The Cardinals also pummeled the Keuka keepers with a whopping 62 shots, 37 of which were on the mark.
 
The nationally-ranked Cardinals did the bulk of the scoring in the first half, as they headed into the intermission with a 14-2 lead. In the first half alone, current USILA Division III Team of the Week member, Nicholas Miller had a hat trick and an assist, while Matthew Kemmis had two goals and an assist, and Brennan O'Brien netted his second goal of the year and dished out dimes on two others.
 
Although the third quarter opened with a face off loss, the Fisher midfield made up for it when their successful clear turned into Roger Panara's second goal of the season. Just minutes later, another Fisher clear turned into a fast break for senior long pole, John Austin, who put his name on the score sheet for the first time in a Cardinals uniform. Austin's goal turned into two more scores within 21 seconds, following consecutive LoCasto face off wins and that turned into rung nets by Kemmis and Ian Evans.
 
From there, Fisher netted eight of the game's last 10 goals, which extended the final deficit to 22 points.
 
Darin Eakins and Brandon Moore split the first two quarters between the posts for the Cardinals. Eakins tallied two saves and was awarded the win in net, while Moore notched three saves of his own and two goals against. Also seeing minutes in goal were Jake Franchi, who held down the third quarter with three saves and just one goal against, and Nicholas Hallinan and Ben Hammond who split the work in the last period.
 
Miller finished with a game-high four goals, while Kemmis added three, and Jordan DePetres, Ethan Gentile, and Jacob Risavi each scored twice. The rest of the scoring was divided amongst 13 other Cardinals.
 
Nine Cardinals grabbed their first goals of the season tonight, while six of them scored their first career collegiate goals, including Austin, Grom, Tyler Edinger, Jordan Leuze, Timmy Salit, and Jake Carpenter.
 
Fisher gets a few days of rest before they suit up again at noon on Saturday, April 3 at Nazareth College for a non-conference tilt with their East Avenue rival.