Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's lacrosse team will host Empire 8 Conference opponent St. John Fisher College for a 4:00 p.m. contest at Campus Field on Tuesday, April 19th. The Soaring Eagles will recognize the USILA-HEADstrong Cancer Awareness Week by sporting lime green HEADstrong socks against the Cardinals.

Last Time Out
The Soaring Eagles suffered their second straight loss and fell to 1-3 inside the Empire 8 Conference after Alfred University handed EC a 20-8 defeat. Elmira raced out of the starting gates to jump ahead 2-0 in the early portion of the first quarter on goals from Skyler Pradelski '16 and TJ Leach '16. The Saxons responded with five unanswered goals to capture. They went on to net 12 of the next 13 goals overall to put the game out of reach. Aiding the Alfred cause was a dominate performance from Saxons draw man Jimmy Pratti, who won 28-of-31 faceoff attempts. First-year attacker Joe Fornataro led the Saxons offense with seven goals and eight points, both game highs. Leach paced EC with three goals and four points, while Nevin Olney '18 and Anthony LaRusso '17 tallied one goal and one assist apiece. Goaltender Cameron Prior '17 took the loss for the Soaring Eagles with 18 saves.

USILA/HEADstrong Cancer Awareness Week
The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) has announced a landmark initiative with the HEADstrong Foundation to form the first annual Cancer Awareness Week. Late Hofstra University lacrosse player, Nicholas Colleluori, founded the HEADstrong Foundation to raise awareness and funds for cancer patients and their families before losing his personal battle with cancer. EC will support the cause by wearing special HEADstrong socks during the game against St. John Fisher College on Tuesday, April 19th. In the fall, the Elmira men's lacrosse team raised $4,291 as part of HEADstrong's Mustache Madness campaign. EC raised the 10th-most among all of the teams that participated in the annual fundraising event, which brought in over $170,000 to support HEADstrong's mission.

Series History
St. John Fisher boasts a 9-5 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs. The Cardinals have controlled the series of late, winning nine straight over the Soaring Eagles. EC's last victory over its feathered conference foe came on April 15, 2006, by a final score of 10-6.

Scouting St. John Fisher
The Cardinals are experiencing a down season in 2016 after bowing out of the 2015 Empire 8 Conference Tournament with a first-round loss to Nazareth College. Fisher enters the Tuesday matchup against EC with a 5-7 overall record and a 2-3 mark inside conference play. While SJFC has posted some impressive wins – 23-1 over Lyndon State on February 29th and 22-2 over Houghton College on April 5th – the Cardinals were pummeled 24-1 at the hands of 20th-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology last time out. Fisher's offense is led by Andrew Rosso and Nick Papayanakos. Papayanakos leads the team with 20 goals and is second with 29 points, while Rosso paces the squad in assists with 20 and points with 36. In goal, Tanner Swan has made 11 starts, posting a 12.55 goals-against average and a .487 save percentage.

Looking Ahead
The Elmira College men's lacrosse team will travel to Hoboken, NJ, to face the nationally-ranked Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday, April 23rd, at 3:00 p.m.