ITHACA, N.Y. – For the eighth time in the 10 years of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament, the Ithaca women's lacrosse team is making an appearance in the semifinals. The top-seeded and 20th-ranked Bombers are slated to face fourth-seeded Nazareth at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 5 at Higgins Stadium. Live Stats will be available for the game.

Ithaca, who won the conference title in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2008, defeated the Golden Flyers, 19-3, in regular-season play. Ithaca leads the all-time series 11-9 and owns a 5-1 Empire 8 playoff record over Nazareth. Ithaca twice claimed the conference crown in victories over the Golden Flyers in 2003 and 2004, while Nazareth tallied one of its four championships with a victory over Ithaca in 2005. Ithaca won the most recent three semifinal meetings with Nazareth in 2008, 2010 and 2011 to advance to the Empire 8 title game.

Tallying its third straight 10-win season, Ithaca enters the tournament riding a nine game winning streak, the longest run for the Bombers in 11 years. Ithaca tallied a perfect 7-0 conference record and is outscoring opponents 211-116 this season. The Bombers, who lead the conference in three team categories, are led by junior Tracy Rivas with 73 points on team-bests of 48 goals and 25 assists. Senior Nicole Borisenok ranks second in all three categories chipping in 37 goals and 15 assists for 52 points. Rivas and senior Siobhan Sullivan have 36 ground balls each. Defensively, Sullivan and sophomore Jenna Marchinetti have forced 17 turnovers, while junior Jess Worthman has made 71 stops in goal for a save percentage of .413. Junior Kim Armbruster has won a Bomber-best 49 draws and classmate Nikki Dahl adds 41.

Saturday's winner will advance to Sunday's league championship game, which will be played at 1 p.m. against the winner of second-seeded St. John Fisher and third-seeded Stevens.