ROCHESTER, NY – The Nazareth College field hockey team may have known before the start Saturday night's regular season finale that they had already earned the fourth and final spot in the Empire 8 Tournament. If anything, that information inspired the Golden Flyers to play a fantastic first half before St. John Fisher battled back and scored a 3-2 Empire 8 victory at Growney Stadium.

Junior Natalie L'Hommedieu finished a penalty corner for her third goal of the season midway through the first half to give Nazareth (8-11 overall, 3-4 E8) an early 1-0 lead.

The Nazareth defense led by sophomore goalie Amanda Chuttey preserved the one-goal lead for the remainder of the first half despite a St. John Fisher 7-2 shot advantage in the second quarter and a 4-1 edge in penalty corners.

After the halftime intermission, the Cardinals (15-4, 7-0 E8) scored twice in the third quarter to take a 2-1 lead. The first goal was off a rebounded save by Chuttey and the second, four minutes later was off a scramble in front of the cage.

Early in the fourth quarter, St. John Fisher, who locked up the top seed in the Empire 8 Tournament earlier in the week, took a 3-1 lead when leading scorer Bre Socker netted her 28th goal of the season with a high shot past Chuttey.

Less than a minute later, seniors Alexandra Livesey and Jennifer Hilts connected to trim the lead to 3-2. The assist for Hilts was her 19th career assist which ties her for the all-time career assist lead at Nazareth with Kailee O'Hara who played from 2009-12.

Neither team was able to score the rest of the way.

The Cardinals finished with a 27-4 shots advantage including an 18-3 edge in shots on goal and a 13-3 lead in penalty corners. Chuttey finished with a season-best 15 saves.

The same two teams will play in the first round of the Empire 8 Tournament at 5 p.m. Friday at St. John Fisher.