PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team claimed its ninth consecutive Empire 8 Championship on Sunday as the top-seeded Cardinals defeated second-seeded Nazareth College, 13-3, in Growney Stadium to earn the Empire 8's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship next week.  With the win, Fisher, which is ranked 10th in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, climbed to 14-1 on the year while the Golden Flyers ended their season at 7-6.

Fisher will await word on who and where it will play in the NCAA Championship as the selection show is scheduled to take place on NCAA.com at 10:30 a.m. on Monday morning.
 
Junior midfielder Sydney DeGirolamo was named the Championship's Most Valuable Player after the Manlius native scored five goals and assisted on three others in the title game.  DeGirolamo also accounted for a game-high 12 draw controls and had two ground balls and a caused turnover in the win.

Brittany Halpin finished with three goals for Fisher and two ground balls while Alyssa Sproule added two goals in the win.  Logan Chase netted a pair of goals and caused a game-high four turnovers while Kathleen Salanger rounded out the scoring for Fisher with one goal on the day.

The Cardinals struck first just three minutes in when Chase earned a free position before blowing one past the Golden Flyers' keeper to make it 1-0 in the home team's favor. 

The lead would grow to two goals just two minutes later as DeGirolamo weaved through Nazareth's defense before dumping one into the top corner of the net to stake Fisher to a 2-0 advantage.

Ahead by a pair, Fisher forced a turnover in its own end and worked the ball up the sideline as DeGirolamo settled it and found Halpin cutting in front of the cage for her 32nd goal of the season and a 3-0 cushion.

The Cardinals' lead grew to five goals just past the midway point of the first half as Sproule and DeGirolamo each found the back of the net in a span of 52 seconds, but Nazareth would get on the board with 12:28 left in the period to cut the deficit to four goals, 5-1.

With halftime on the horizon, Fisher added to its lead with just four seconds on the clock as DeGirolamo hit Chase for her second goal of the period to send both teams into the break with the Cardinals holding a 6-1 margin.

Coming out of intermission, Fisher continued to fire on all cylinders as head coach Linda Michele's team punched in another free position goal with Sproule scoring her 43rd of the season to make it 7-1.

From there, Fisher produced four more unanswered goals including two tallies from Halpin to open up a 10-goal cushion, 11-1.  Nazareth would stop the clock from running with a goal at the 5:32 mark of the second half, but was unable to keep pace as the Cardinals countered with a goal of their own just 48 seconds later to keep it at a 10-goal gap.

With the game all but over, Nazareth drew closer with a goal at 3:07, but DeGirolamo finished the Golden Flyers off two minutes later with her fifth goal of the afternoon as the home team captured its 11th Empire 8 title in team history.

Claudia Mocciaro moved to 14-1 in goal for Fisher after the senior made five saves over 60 minutes of work.  She also caused two turnovers and had one ground ball in the win.

As a team, Fisher limited Nazareth to just 10 shots on the day and forced the Golden Flyers in to 16 turnovers in all. 

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