Empire 8 Release
 
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College field hockey team received several recognitions from the Empire 8 conference office on Tuesday afternoon, as the league released its All-Conference awards. The Bombers placed five team members on All-Conference teams, headlined by Colleen Keegan-Twombly earning All-Conference First-Team honors.
 
Joining Keegan-Twombly in the announcement were four other upperclassmen, as Cassie Schuttrumpf, Michaela Donohue and Katie Lass were named to the conference's Second Team. Additionally, Lauren Delia was named an Honorable Mention All-Conference selection. Lass also picked up a second honor, as she was named Ithaca's representative on the Sportswoman of the Year Team.
 
Keegan-Twombly was an offensive force for the Bombers this season, leading the team in both points and goals and tying for the team lead in assists. The senior from Kingston, N.Y., set new career highs with 34 points and eight assists, while she beat opposing keepers for 13 goals during the year. It is the second consecutive year that she was a First-Team honoree by the conference, while it is the third time she has earned a season award from the league.
 
Her 2.27 points per game and 13 goals scored both ranked second in the conference during the regular season, while she ranked third in points and tied for fourth in assists. The senior striker was held off the score sheet just three times in 15 total contests during the year, while she posted six games with three-or-more points. Keegan-Twombly concludes her Ithaca career with 94 career points on 38 goals and 18 assists.
 
Schuttrumpf also had a fantastic conclusion to her Ithaca career, culminating in her first career All-Conference award. She set a new career high with 17 points on the season, equaling her career best with six goals and setting a new high-water mark with five assists. She saved her best work for Empire 8 play, registering three games with three-or-more points, tallying a goal and an assist in contests against Nazareth, Hartwick, and Elmira. Schuttrumpf finishes her IC career with 43 points on 15 goals and 13 assists.
 
Joining Schuttrumpf on the second team was fellow attacking presence Michaela Donohue. The junior from Yarmouth Port, Mass., also set new personal bests in 2016, marking 24 points on eight goals and eight assists. Her eight helpers shattered her previous career high, while the eight goal-scoring tallies equaled her number from last season. Donohue posted five games with three-or-more points, concluding the season on a red-hot streak. She marked 14 points over her last four games, scoring six of her eight goals on the year during that run, which included an Empire 8 Player of the Week honor following the final week of the regular season. Tuesday's announcement marks the second career Empire 8 year-end accolade for Donohue, who was named an Honorable Mention All-Conference selection a season ago.
 
Ithaca's final member on the conference's Second Team was top goalkeeper Katie Lass. The 2015 Empire 8 Player of the Year posted another fine season in 2016. Her numbers in the Bombers cage were strong, as she posted a 1.96 goals-against average and .812 save percentage in totaling 121 saves on the year. She finishes her Ithaca career ranked fourth all-time in program history with 476 career saves, while she also posted four clean sheets in 2016 to bring her career shutout total to 17. The announcement marked the fourth time that Lass has been recognized by the Empire 8 at season's end, with two First-Team nods and now two Second-Team honors over her four-year career.
 
In addition to Lass being named to the Second Team, she also was named Ithaca's representative on the Sportswoman of the Year Team. One member of each team was named that institution's representative on the 2016 Field Hockey Sportswoman of the Year Team.  Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete's experience in conjunction with an institution's educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.
 
The Bombers' final honoree was Lauren Delia, who was named an Honorable Mention All-Conference selection. The senior forward had a season to remember, setting new personal bests with 17 points and eight goals in 2016. Entering the year with three multi-goal games to her credit over her first three seasons combined on South Hill, Delia equaled that total with three multi-goal efforts this season alone. Five of her eight tallies came against Empire 8 opposition, including back-to-back two-goal outputs in victories over Houghton and Nazareth. Tuesday's announcement is the first time Delia has garnered a season accolade from the conference.