Utica, N.Y. – The Ithaca men's lacrosse team (6-4, 2-1 Empire 8) upended Utica, 20-2, on Wednesday afternoon to snap a three-game losing skid.

Thirteen Bombers scored as Ithaca claimed its largest margin of victory of the season and netted a season-best goal count. Ithaca outshot the host 48-23.

Ithaca held the Pioneers scoreless in the opening two periods to take a 10-0 advantage into intermission. The Bombers went on to take an 11-0 lead to open the second half before Utica got on the board at 10:46 in the third period. Ithaca unloaded nine unanswered for a 20-1 lead with 6:28 left in the game before the Pioneers finalized all scoring at 20-2 at the 33-second mark.

Senior Michael Silipo (Williston Northampton/Deerfield, Mass.) and junior Tom Mongelli (Kinnelon/Kinnelon, N.J.) each recorded hat tricks, while senior Jay Lucas (Fox Lane/Bedford Hills), junior Devin Weinshank (Long Beach/Long Beach) and freshman Ryan Burns (Lakewood Ranch/Bradenton, Fla.) each added two scores. Weinshank had a pair of assists, while sophomore Andrew Bruce (De La Salle/Lafayette, Calif.) led the game dishing out three.

Junior Brian DiBetta (John Jay/Katonah) won eight of 12 faceoffs to lead the Bombers.

Senior David Gal (Loomis Chafee (Conn.)/Amherst, Mass.) and sophomore Luke Robinson (Fox Lane/Bedford) shared time in goal, each allowing one goal. Gal claimed the win making nine stops in 45 minutes of action, he also collected a team-high three ground balls.

Bruce fed Silipo to open all scoring at the 13-minute mark of the first quarter. DiBetta netted one of his own before the Bruce-Silipo duo struck again. Weinshank claimed his first of the game at 4:29 before dishing out a pair of assists to Mongelli and Lucas for a solid 6-0 lead at the end of the first period.

Silipo and Burns each went unassisted early in the second period before junior Zachary Plotkin (Syosset/Syosset) found Lucas at 1:21. Silipo assisted Weinshank with one minute of play remaining in the half to take a commanding 10-0 lead into intermission.

The Bombers scored five goals in each of the final two periods. Bruce scored just five seconds into the third period off a DiBetta feed before Utica brought the game to 11-1 at 10:46. The Bombers would respond with nine straight scores.

Mongelli scored at the 7:16 mark of the third stanza before freshman Pat Slawta (Walt Whitman/Bethesda, Md.) found the crosse of classmate Jake Long (Upper Dublin/Ft. Washington, Pa.). Mongelli notched his final goal of the game on a Burns assist at 4:44 and Slawta went unassisted at 1:39 to close out the quarter with a 15-1 lead.

Sophomore Riley Austin (Eastridge/Rochester) and Burns each scored man-up goals early in the final frame. Freshmen Casey Schattner (West Genesee/Syracuse), Trevor Lundblad (Forest Hills Central/Ada, Mich.) and Mark Slotoroff (Mainland Regional/Linwood, N.J.) each scored their first collegiate goals on assists from freshman Joe Perkins (Rush-Henrietta/Rush), Burns and sophomore William Gurowski (Webster Thomas/Webster), respectively. A six-minute lull in scoring followed before Utica claimed its second goal of the game with 33 seconds remaining in play.

Ithaca collected 26 ground balls to the Pioneers' 18, while each team won 13 faceoffs.

The Bombers are next slated to travel to Nazareth for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, April 16.

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