Following a non-conference road game against the Pioneers of Alfred State College, the Soaring Eagles will return to the friendly confines of historic Dunn Field for a quartet of Empire 8 Conference contests. Elmira hosts No. 25-ranked St. John Fisher College on Wednesday, April 19, at 5:00 p.m. The Elmira men will then host SUNY Canton in an all-important three-game conference series, which will hold serious playoff implications for both squads. The two league foes will open a doubleheader on Saturday, April 22, at 12:00 p.m., before concluding the week with a 12:00 p.m. nine-inning game on Sunday, April 23.
  After a doubleheader split with Utica College last time out, the Soaring Eagles will look to build on those wins in a trio of doubleheaders this week. Elmira travels to face Alfred State this evening at 3:00 p.m., before making the short trip up Route 13 on Saturday, April 22, to face E8 adversary Ithaca College at 1:00 p.m. The Soaring Eagles wrap-up the week's action the following afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. twin bill against the Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology at Eldirdge Park Stadium. Elmira will honor its graduating members of the Class of 2017 during Sunday's contest against the Ducks. The 2017 campaign continues for the Purple and Gold this week, as they prepare to face a pair of E8 opponents. Elmira travels to the Flower City to battle the Cardinals of St. John Fisher on Tuesday, April 18, before concluding the week with a home bout against the Ducks of Stevens on Saturday, April 22. Saturday's league bout is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. at EC's Campus Field.
  Elmira will be looking to build on its most recent victory, a 10-goal win over Alfred University, as the Soaring Eagles take on a trio of opponents this week. EC travels to the Garden State on Wednesday, April 19, for a 3:00 p.m. league bout against the Ducks of Stevens, and will continue their road tour on Saturday, April 22, with a 2:00 p.m. tilt against the Golden Flyers of Nazareth College. Elmira's three-game week comes to an end on Sunday, April 23, when the Purple and Gold host the Roos of SUNY Canton at Campus Field for a 1:00 p.m. non-league bout.
  The Elmira men are facing a challenging schedule this week, as they face a trio of league opponents starting with this evening's 4:00 p.m. clash with Utica College. Elmira will then face the Saxons of Alfred on Wednesday, April 19, in a 4:00 p.m. tilt at the Murray Athletic Center. EC will then travel to Hoboken, New Jersey, to take on the Ducks of Stevens, which will have a 2:00 p.m. start. Although the 2016-17 Empire 8 Championships are in the books, the spring season continues this weekend for the Elmira men, as they head to Grantham, Pennsylvania, to compete in the Messiah Falcon Classic. The opening round of the two-day invite is set for Sunday, April 23, and will conclude the following afternoon.
  Unplayable course conditions forced a cancellation to EC's original spring opener at SUNY Delhi, and as a result the Soaring Eagles will kick-off the spring portion of its schedule with a short trip up Route 13 to compete in the Ithaca College Invitational. Action at the Country Club of Ithaca, which served as the site of the 2016 Empire 8 Championships, begins on Saturday, April 22, and will conclude the following afternoon.
 
 
  Elmira (9-10, 6-5 E8) traveled to Hoboken, New Jersey, for a three-game series with the Ducks of Stevens last weekend. The Soaring Eagles needed at least one win to stay within striking distance of a playoff spot, but instead the Purple and Gold topped Stevens in two of the three games for their first-ever series win against the Ducks. Elmira ran away with the opening game of the series, 7-1, before falling in the nightcap by a 9-0 final score. Then in Sunday's series finale, Elmira rode the relief effort of Andy Reed '19 to a 7-5 victory in game three, a win that vaulted EC to third place in the E8 standings.
 
Jansen Crossley '20 led the Soaring Eagles at the plate with a .500 batting average on a 5-for-10 showing from the dish. The rookie logged a pair of multi-hit games and finished with team highs in hits (5), RBIs (3), doubles (1) and stolen bases (1). Dylan Bellinger '17 tied for the team lead in RBIs (3), and came up clutch in game three of the series with a two-run homer in the fifth inning that put the Purple and Gold out in front, 6-5. Rookies Tommy Fogarty '20 and Justin Iannotto '20 chipped in with a pair .400 batting averages, which included a solo home run by Iannotto in game three. Pitching wise, EC received several key contributions from a handful of players. Reed was a stud on the mound, as the second-year southpaw tossed 6.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits in game three before mowing down the side in order, 1-2-3, in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Conor Bawiec '18 got the start in game one and went 6.1 innings, allowing just one run with nine strikeouts.
  Elmira (1-8, 1-3 E8) fell in its lone game of the week, suffering a 21-1 loss on the road to Alfred in E8 action. The Saxons shutout EC in the first half, 8-0, before Nevin Olney '18 put the Purple and Gold on the scoreboard with his 13th tally of the season. Alfred would go on to score 13 unanswered goals en route to the win. Elmira's Cameron Prior '17 made 12 saves in 60 minutes of action for the Purple and Gold.
  After dropping the series-opening game to Utica, 5-0, Elmira (5-8, 1-7 E8) found its rhythm at the plate in game two to record a 6-5 victory over the Pioneers. Utica pushed across a pair of runs in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead, but Elmira answered in the bottom half of the inning with a trio of runs to pull ahead, 3-2. Highlighting the three-run third inning was Maddy Johnson '19, who slapped an inside the park home run. EC tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Chelsea Storch '17 and a wild pitch that allowed Samantha Jenkins '20 to trot home. However, EC saw its three-run lead disappear in the fifth, when Utica's Samantha Whitehouse drove in two runs on a double to left center, which was followed by a sacrifice fly by Hayley Fredericks that knotted the game at 5-5. Thankfully, a heads up play by Olivia Harnois '19 to bolt for home on a wild pitch put the Purple and Gold back on top 6-5, at which point EC's starting pitcher, Katie McDougal '18, closed the door on Pioneers for her third win of the season.
  The Soaring Eagles (3-7, 1-3 E8) rode the efforts of rookie Rachael Goetz '20, who scored a game- and career-high six goals, to a 14-4 conference victory against Alfred. Elmira jumped out to a 3-0 lead, as Goetz tallied the first two goals of the game for EC. However, the Saxons answered with back-to-back strikes to pull to within one of the Soaring Eagles, 3-2. The one-goal lead did not stand for long, as the Elmira offense exploded for eight consecutive goals over the next 20:32 to take a commanding 11-2 lead in the second half. Alfred scored two additional goals, but the Elmira women closed the door on the Saxons by scoring three straight to end the game and secure a double-digit victory.
 
Goetz's six-goal performance tied the 2017 single-game high and was the highest single-game scoring output by a freshman since the program's all-time leading scorer, Moorea Spoljaric '16, tallied six times during her debut season in 2013. Additionally, Rachel Grampp '18, Kelsey Quail '17 and Mae Dinh '18 added two goals apiece for EC, while Quail paced the Elmira women with a game- and career-high eight draw controls.
  Elmira concluded the second leg of the Empire 8 Conference Championships this past weekend, as the Soaring Eagles finished the year-end tournament in eighth place with a four-round team score of  1466 (+322). Dan Gridley '18 ended the tournament in 25th place with a four-round score of 346. EC's Nicholas Neary '19, Brian Demo '17 and Brandon Payne '17 finished in 35th, 36th and 37th place, respectively.