Score: St. John Fisher College 4 – Elmira College 0
Records: St. John Fisher (10-3, 6-0 E8), Elmira (4-9, 1-5 E8)
Location: Murray Athletic Center – Pine Valley, NY
 
Pine Valley, NY – The Elmira College field hockey team celebrated its Class of 2016 on Saturday afternoon when it welcomed Empire 8-leading St. John Fisher College to the Murray Athletic Center. Elmira seniors Emily Castelli '16 and Alli Gilbert '16 were honored in a pregame ceremony recognizing their immense contributions to the program over the last four years. Unfortunately, the Cardinals would spoil the party once play got underway, as the visitors took home a 4-0 victory on the strength of a big second half.
 
St. John Fisher entered the day having already secured its place in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament; however, the Cardinals certainly looked intent on taking one step closer to playing host to that tournament. The visitors jumped on the front foot early, creating a plethora of scoring chances in the opening minutes. Elmira keeper Mikayla Rebusmen '17 did well to hold off offensive pressure of St. John Fisher, making several keys stops, including a fantastic denial of an Emily Markarian '18 breakaway opportunity.
 
The Soaring Eagles looked to have found its offensive footing after the Cardinals initial push. The Soaring Eagles generated three consecutive penalty corner chances in the sixth minute of play, but unfortunately were not able to capitalize. The Purple and Gold's best chance came on the third corner in the sequence, as Kristy Haskell '19 was denied on a point-blank shot by Cardinal keeper Danielle Famolaro '16.
 
The Cardinals finally broke through in the 15^th minute on Markarian's first of two goals on the afternoon. She synced up with Elizabeth Cusack '16 on a nice passing play, as the latter sent a perfect cross into the middle of the arc, where Markarian corralled and then whipped the ball inside the right post to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
 
Thanks to the stellar goalkeeping of Rebusmen, the score line would remain the same until midway through the second half. Markarian would tally her second goal of the afternoon in the 45^th minute in almost a carbon copy sequence to her goal scoring play on the other end.
 
Hannah Cooper '18 would stretch the Cardinals lead to three less than five minutes later when she sent a high arcing shot that dipped just below the crossbar and into the cage. Cusack would close out the scoring with a deflection goal in the 67^th minute.
 
In Her Own Words…
Head Coach Lauren Silva on the team's effort…
"St. John Fisher was definitely one of the toughest opponents we have played this season. They are undefeated in the conference for a reason. But I'm extremely proud of our girls for battling hard the entire game. We hung right there with them for most of the game and the girls left it all out on the field."
 
Silva on the Class of 2016…
"It certainly was an emotional day celebrating our two seniors. Emily and Alli have given so much to the program over their careers. They both represent the heart and soul of our team and they will certainly be missed."
 
Turning Point
Although St. John Fisher held a fairly decisive edge in shots, Elmira only trailed 1-0 midway through the second half of play. That deficit tripled in the span of 4:34, as Emily Markarian scored her second goal of the game, while Hannah Cooper '18 arced in a shot off a penalty corner opportunity. That put the Cardinals well in control of the game with just over 20 minutes left.
 
Inside the Box Score

• St. John Fisher led Elmira 22-to-7 in shot attempts, including a 12-to-4 edge in shots on goal.
• The Cardinals edged the Soaring Eagles 9-to-5 in penalty corner opportunities in the contest.
• Gilbert led the Soaring Eagles with two shot attempts, while she joined Alison Mariano '18, Atu Machika '18 and Kristy Haskell '19 with one shot on goal.
• Markarian had a monster impact on the game for the Cardinals, finishing with a whopping 12 shot attempts and eight shots on goal. She would translate that into a pair of goals.
• Rebusmen would finish with eight saves for Elmira.

 
News and Notes

• With the loss, Elmira fell to 0-7 at home this season. The Soaring Eagles have not gone winless at home in a season since going 0-7 at the Murray Athletic Center in 2010. Elmira will look to avoid that when they close out the home slate against Wells College on Wednesday, October 28^th.
• Today marked the third straight contest that Elmira has been shutout. Curiously, all three games were 4-0 final scores. The last time the Soaring Eagles have been blanked in three straight contests also came during the 2010 campaign.
• Gilbert remains just six points away from tying Kayla Blank '09 for second place on the program's all-time points list. She also remains just three assists away from equaling the program record for career assists and setting the single-season assist record.

 
Up Next
Elmira will return to action on Tuesday, October 20^th, when it travels to the Flower City to face the University of Rochester at 6:00 p.m.