Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The 18th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team (12-5) advances to the Empire 8 championship for the fifth straight season with a 15-6 victory over visiting Stevens Institute of Technology (7-10) Saturday at Higgins Stadium. The Bombers will face 15th-ranked St. John Fisher (14-4) who defeated Nazareth (8-8), 11-5, in the day's second semifinal.
The teams exchanged goals to open the game before Ithaca posted three straight. Stevens answered with back-to-back goals in a span of 42 seconds. The Bombers rattled off five consecutive to end the half with a 9-3 cushion. Ithaca continued to dominate, outscoring the Ducks 6-3 in the second.
Ithaca, who defeated Stevens 13-6 in the regular season, again held the Ducks to just six goals – a season-low output.
Sophomore
Ally Runyon led all scorers with a six-goal showing and Stevens senior Kara Rafferty paced the Duck offense with three goals and two assists.
Junior
Natalie Lang added two scores and two assists for the Bombers, while freshman
Morgan Cadwell had a hat trick and dished out one assist for four points each. Junior
Molly Fischer scored twice and had one assist. Sophomore
Riley Marion had two goals and classmate
Mackenzie Robinson had two feeds. Senior
Becky Guzzo chipped in one assist.
Freshman
Emily Ross earned the win with seven stops between the pipes, she also had a season-best seven ground balls. Runyon had five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Marion recorded four and two, respectively. Lang won four of Ithaca's eight draws.
Joining Rafferty in scoring points for the Ducks, sophomore Erika Wilcox had one score and one assist, while junior Andrea Dragoni and freshman Kathleen Kalbian tallying once each. Kalbian added a game-best eight-draw performance. Juniors Gabriela Sanchez and Amanda Ingersoll forced two turnovers each, though Stevens led the turnover count, 17-14. Senior Mel Welcome suffered the loss in goal making seven saves in 56:05.
The Bombers led shots 30-20 and ground balls 26-13, though the Ducks owned the draw count, 15-8.
Ithaca snapped a five-game Fisher win streak to hand the Cardinals their first loss of the season, 9-7, on March 22. The Bombers have an 11-7 record over Fisher in a series dating back to 2001. The pair has matched up four times in Empire 8 playoff action with the Cardinals claiming a 3-1 edge in outcomes.
