The St. John Fisher men’s lacrosse team defeated the Keuka College Storm by the score of 12-8 on Tuesday. The Cardinals received contributions from very familiar sources as freshman Chris Schmidt once again led the team in scoring with four goals, followed by senior Matt Hargather who tallied a hat trick. Both have been scoring at an unconscious level so far this season. Hargather leads the team with 33 goals and Schmidt is not far behind with 28 goals thus far.

Similar to many of their previous wins, jumping out to an early lead has been essential to their success. Great defensive play has been a staple throughout this season for the Cards, as they have constantly proven that once they hold the lead, their defense is determined to keep it that way.

Schmidt and the team’s leading assist man, Dave Malone, went on a tear in the first period, as Schmidt scored three and Malone scored two to give Fisher another early lead. Sophomore Mike Cortina also added a goal to give the Cardinals a 5-2 lead after the first quarter.

“I thought we played a full 60 minutes of lacrosse today, something we haven’t done all year,” Schmidt said. “This is the first time we’ve beaten Elmira and it was great to do it with such a big win.

“We moved the ball great and Dave Malone had some nice looks as we got their defense moving.”

Hargather scored all three of his goals in the second quarter with help from freshman Scottie Bowen who added one to give Fisher a 9-4 lead at halftime. The Cardinal attack proved to be too much as each Keuka goal from then on was almost immediately answered back by Fisher’s potent offense, resulting in yet another Fisher victory.

The St. John Fisher men’s lacrosse team played their most dominant offensive performance of the season with a 19-6 blowout of Empire 8 opponent Elmira College on Saturday. For the second straight game, Fisher continued to show their amazing ability to jump out to an early lead and never look back.

Once again, the one-two punch of Hargather and Schmidt was effective as ever, as Hargather scored an impressive five goals and Schmidt added four for the second straight game. Freshman Jeff Price also had a hat trick for the Cardinals.

Surprisingly, despite the plethora of goals scored by the home team, the most impressive performance of the game goes to Malone and his ability to constantly find the open man for the goal. Malone had an unbelievable seven assists for Fisher, while still scoring two goals of his own, once again showing his versatility and ability to share the ball and score when need be.