GENEVA, N.Y. – Fresh off its second Empire 8 championship in the last five years, the St. John Fisher College field hockey team opened the 2021 season on Wednesday night as the Cardinals fell to William Smith, 5-4, in the second overtime period of a non-conference tilt at Cozens Field.  With the defeat, Fisher fell to 0-1 while the Herons closed out the day at 1-0.

Freshman Molly Fisher burst onto the scene in a big way as the Webster native notched her first-career hat trick and accounted for four shots in all.  All-American Bre Socker scored a goal and added an assist as the senior now needs just two assists and two goals to become the program's all-time leader in both categories.

Fisher didn't waste any time putting William Smith in an early hole after scoring in just the third minute to make it 1-0 in the visitors' favor.  The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Herons netted the equalizer late in the quarter to knot things up heading to the second period.

With the game deadlocked to begin the frame, William Smith went to work on the offensive end of the field and yielded two goals in a span of eight minutes to hold a 3-1 edge heading into the halftime break.

Coming out of intermission, freshman Audrey Grieb found Socker in front of the cage for a goal to cut the gap to one, but the home team countered on the other end of the field to push its lead back to two with just under 11 minutes to go in the stanza.

Holding a 4-2 cushion with time winding down in the quarter, William Smith lost track of Fisher as the forward tipped a feed from Sam Choate into the goal to pull Fisher to within one heading into the final 15 minutes of play.

Trailing by a single goal with under a minute to go, Fisher looked to push the pace as Socker sent a pass in front that found its mark as Fisher redirected the offering into the goal with just two seconds showing on the clock to level the game at 4-4 and force overtime.

Neither team was able to break the tie in the first overtime period, but it would be the home team that came out on top in the second after the Herons drew a corner and sent a pass to the top of the circle that was whipped into the goal for the 5-4 decision.

Sophia Trozzi started in goal for the Cardinals and was tagged with her first-career loss after the sophomore allowed five goals and made eight stops in 72 minutes.

The Cardinals will go for their first win of the season at 12 p.m. on Saturday when they host Ithaca College in another non-conference battle inside Growney Stadium.