ALBANY, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher men's lacrosse team cruised to a 23-2 victory over Russell Sage to open up Empire 8 Conference play on Saturday afternoon at the ACP Athletic Complex.
The Cardinals, who'd lost three straight games after a 4-1 start to the season, improved to 5-4 overall (1-0 E8) with the victory, their fifth in a row over Sage. The Gators dropped to 3-7 overall (0-2 E8).
Senior Ethan Kesselring, one of six Cardinals who had a multi-goal performance, scored a career-high five goals in the drubbing of the Gators.
How It Happened
The Cardinals scored six goals in the opening quarter and four in the second en route to a 10-0 halftime lead.
Jordan Leuze struck first less than a minute into the game to start the scoring. Braden McNeill scored twice, while Kesselring, Keaton Piconi and Reed Currie had the other Fisher tallies in the first quarter.
Kesselring scored twice in the second quarter as the Cardinals pushed their lead to double digits. Leuze scored again, and sophomore Robbie Salit recorded his first collegiate goal for the Cardinals' other goals before the break.
Leuze scored his third goal of the day 11 seconds into the third quarter, and the Cardinals scored twice more after that to make it 13-0 before Sage finally cracked the scoreboard.
The Cardinals scored eight times in the third quarter in all, with Brady Mason (2), Sean Donaldson, Salit and Kesselring accounting for the other goals. Kesselring added his fifth goal of the day early in the fourth quarter.
Piconi, Salit, Tyson DeLisio and Colin Blakeslee also piled on to the Fisher lead in the final quarter.
Game Notes
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The Cardinals set season highs in goals (23) and assists (14) as 16 total players tallied at least one point.
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The Cardinals have outscored Russell Sage 131-17 in five meetings. They have scored at lesat 23 goals in each of those contests.
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Kesselring also tallied two assists in the contest to amass seven total points, a career-high.
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Leuze scored a season-high three goals and recorded two assists as part of a five-point day.
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Salit (3), Piconi (2), McNeill (2) and Mason (2) also had multi-goal games. Salit scored the first three goals of his collegiate career in the contest.
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Mason, Vincent Scibello and Kyler Ringgold also tallied two assists.
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Fisher dominated the faceoff circle, winning 23 of 28 draws, led by Bryce Riffel (8-for-9), Scott Reeves (7-for-7) and Colin Reinhart (5-for-8).
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The Cardinals outshot Sage 64-21 (42-9 on goal), held a 38-19 ground ball advantage and went 20-of-23 on clears.
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Tyler Manning, who made three saves, earned credit for the victory in net. Jack Gullo and Ian McIntyre also saw action between the pipes.
Up Next
The Cardinals face Utica University at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Growney Stadium.
