Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team outscored Stevens Institute of Technology by two goals in the third quarter and it was the decisive margin in an 11-9 Ithaca victory on Wednesday, April 29 at Higgins Stadium in an Empire 8 tournament semifinal game. With the victory, Ithaca advances to the conference championship game at Nazareth on Saturday, May 2 at 4 p.m.
The game was tied 2-2 after the first quarter and 6-6 at halftime.
In the third quarter,
John Januszkiewicz scored for Ithaca and his goal was answered by John Boutureira less than a minute later to tie the game 7-7.
Stephen Morrell scored for the Bombers with 1:23 left in the quarter and Januszkiewicz scored again with just four seconds left to give Ithaca a 9-7 lead headed to the fourth quarter. The Bombers maintained their lead over the final 15 minutes to earn the victory.
Stevens pulled to within 9-8 on a man-up goal in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but back-to-back goals from
James Manilla and
Kaelan Fitzpatrick stretched the margin to three goals and the Bombers went on to the victory.
Stevens led 2-0 in the first quarter but Ithaca tied it on goals from
Jake Cotton and
Jack Shumway. Januszkiewicz scored twice in the second quarter and
Justin Bird and
James Manilla added goals for Ithaca.
Ithaca goalkeeper
Scott Sidnam made six saves, while Stevens goalkeeper Austin Boyd had 12 saves. The Bombers held a 40-32 advantage in shots, a 42-33 advantage in ground balls and Ithaca won 16 of 23 faceoffs.
Jimmy Ryan had six ground balls and four caused turnovers for Ithaca.
Eli Gobrecht had six ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Ithaca's win gave the Bombers a 7-6 advantage in the all-time series between the schools, which dates back to 2007.
Ithaca has participated in the Empire 8 tournament all 12 years of its existence including this season. This will be Ithaca's ninth appearance in the Empire 8 championship game. The Bombers won titles in 2008 and 2014. The winner of Saturday's title game earns automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.
Nazareth defeated Ithaca 9-6 in the regular-season meeting, which was also played at Nazareth. The Golden Flyers finished first in the Empire 8 with an 8-0 conference record. Nazareth is ranked 15th by the USILA Coaches Poll and 14th by LaxMagazine.com. Ithaca is ranked 17th in both national polls.
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