ALBANY, N.Y. – Russell Sage College, battling to earn a spot in the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament, was upended 1-0 by visiting Saint John Fisher this afternoon.
The lone goal of the E8 matinee came in the 35th minute via a penalty kick by fifth-year senior defender Tim Brown.
RSC (4-7-4/1-4-2 E8) was able to tilt the pitch in the second half in its attempt for an equalizer. The Gators out-shot the visiting Cardinals (5-4-5/4-0-3 E8) 6-1 and took seven corners following the break.
The best chance for RSC came in the 68th minute off the foot of forward/midfielder John Locicero (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill). The grad student, who tops the Gators in scoring, got the ball past the Cardinal backline thanks to a well-placed feed from freshman defender Christian Beres (Howell, MI/Hartland). However, SJFU goalkeeper Christian Burkhart, a grad student, was able to dive and knock the hard shot above the crossbar to keep the home team off the board.
RSC hosts Hartwick in their regular season finale on Wednesday at 4:00 pm. The Gators now will need to defeat the Hawks in order to have any chance of making the E8 Championship Tournament.
Notes: RSC, which has finished in the top half of the E8 Conference standings in three of the last four seasons, made their fourth appearance in the E8 Championship Tournament in 2022…The Gators got off to their best-ever start in E8 play at 3-0-0, and established a program single-season record with five E8 victories during the debut campaign of head coach Amir Pasic.
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