PITTSFORD, NY (April 25, 2009) - The Utica College women's lacrosse team lost 17-13 to host St. John Fisher College in an Empire 8 Conference contest on the turf at Growney Stadium Saturday. After being outscored 9-1 in the first half, the Pioneers turned it on in the second half, outscoring the Cardinals 12-8, but it was too late as the Cardinals posted a four goal victory. Sophomore Tammy Kohanski netted a team-high four goals, all in the second half, as the Pioneers snapped a three game winning streak. UC needs to defeat host Nazareth College Sunday to earn the fourth and final spot in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for the second time in program-history.

With the loss the Pioneers dropped to 8-5 overall and 4-3 in conference play. At Nazareth Sunday UC hopes to end a trend of dropping its last two conference games to Fisher and Nazareth, and missing out on the conference tournament by one game, after falling to both squads last season by a combined score of 30-19 and finishing fifth in the conference standings.

With the win Fisher has secured the number three seed in the conference tournament and will travel to top seeded Stevens Institute of Technology next weekend. The Ducks defeated RIT Saturday to earn the top seed in the conference tournament.

After nine goals from Fisher to open the contest UC senior midfielder Kelly Regan netted her ninth goal of the season, off a free position attempt, with 6:13 to go in the first half to cut the Cardinal lead to 9-1.

The Pioneers outscored the Cardinals 9-4 over the course of the first 17:22 of the second half to cut the Fisher lead to three goals, 13-10, with 12:28 to go in the contest. UC sophomore Julianne Schultheiss scored all three of her goals early in the second half, while Kohanski also added three goals in the first 17 minutes of the second.

The two evenly matched squads exchanged goals in the final nine minutes of play as the Cardinals earned the key four goal victory.

Fisher out shot UC 42-30 on the day, including a convincing 26-10 margin in the first half, which led to 17 saves for UC freshman goalie Shelby Barbay. Each team won 16 draw controls while Fisher earned a 29-24 ground ball advantage.

Sophomore Lily Fleskes netted three goals for the Pioneers, while Laura Keating and Jackie Vicencio also found the back of the net once.

The Pioneers will travel down East Avenue Sunday to take on the Golden Flyers of Nazareth College at 1 p.m. in Pittsford, NY.


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