ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Russell Sage College secured its first appearance in the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament with this afternoon's 6-2 win at Nazareth.  The Gators (6-9/3-4 E8), which scored six of the matinee's final seven goals, will be seeded fifth and play at Utica, the four seed, in the first round on Monday.

Forward Alyssa Fitzgerald (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury), a grad student, equaled the program record with four goals, while midfielder Amy Stevens (Castle Creek, NY/Whitney Point), a grad student, added two goals to set the RSC record for points in a season. Stevens leads the E8 with 44 points, on 18 goals, also a Conference-best, and eight assists.  Forward Sara O'Connor (Rexford, NY/Niskayuna), a grad student, held the Gators program record for most points in a season with 42 in 2019.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jaia Caron (Bellows Falls, VT/Bellows Falls Union) made seven saves to earn the win (6-9)

Sophomore midfielder Audra Mieczkowski and sophomore defender Avery Tanton scored for Nazareth (1-14/1-6 E8), while freshman goalkeeper Morgan Russo (Loss, 1-4) stopped 11 RSC shots. 

Start time for Monday's first round game at Utica will be announced.

Notes: Forward Sara O'Connor (Rexford, NY/Niskayuna), a grad student, is the program record holder for career points with 81 on 33 goals and 15 assists...Fitzgerald  Stevens, and O'Connor occupy the first three spots on the RSC career goal scoring and career points lists…The trio each hold the record for most goals by a Gator in a single game…Stevens leads the E8 in scoring with 44 points on 18 goals and eight assists...She also tops the E8 with 18 goals and has set the program's single season records for points and goals...O'Connor held the previous RSC standards with 42 points and 17 goals in 2019…Fitzgerald is tied for second in the Conference with 17 goals and tied for fourth with 36 points...O'Connor ranks sixth in the E8 with 11 goals and eighth with 25 points…Freshman midfielder Cheyanne Zobel (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) dished out four assists, a program single-game record, in the 12-0 E8 shutout of visiting Elmira on October 21…The rookie now has the RSC single-season standard for assists with 10, good for third in the Conference...Caron (6-9) was selected the Empire 8 Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday, October 8…She began the week with three shutouts, a program single-season record, and seven double-digit save performances.

#SageNation