ITHACA, N.Y.  —Junior Morgan Cadwell registered a career-high seven points on four goals with three assists as the Ithaca College women's lacrosse team claimed the Empire 8 regular season championship and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming postseason tournament with a 12-11 win over St. John Fisher College Saturday afternoon on Senior Day.

Ithaca (12-4, 8-0 Empire 8) will host the four-team Empire 8 postseason tournament at Higgins Stadium. The two semifinals are Saturday, May 7, with the championship game occurring Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. 

Ithaca will face No. 4 Nazareth College (11-5, 6-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday, with No. 2 Stevens (10-6, 6-2) playing No. 3 Fisher at 1 p.m. 

The winner of the Empire 8 tournament receives the conference's at-large berth into the NCAA Division III tournament. The Bombers have advanced into the conference championship in each of the last six years, last winning the conference title in 2008.

Taking on the No. 19 Cardinals (14-3, 6-2), freshman Julia Silvestri scored a career-high three goals, freshman Danika Wagener added two goals with two assists, and junior Morgan Racicot tallied three points on one goal with two assists as IC finished the regular season undefeated in conference play.

Freshman Allison Panara added one goal with one assist, while senior Mackenzie Robinson added one goal for the Bombers.

Cadwell won four draw controls and scored two free-position goals, Panara scooped up three groundballs, and won two draws and caused two turnovers, and sophomore Elizabeth Sauer caused four turnovers and added three groundballs in the win.

Senior Erika Johnson caused two turnovers and picked up a pair of groundballs, and sophomore Molly Long collected three groundballs for Ithaca, which stymied Fisher and held the Cardinals to just four second-half goals.

Sophomore Kimberly Presuto played the final 47 minutes and equaled her career-high with 10 saves to earn her first win of the year.

An effective Ithaca attack scored 12 goals on just 20 shots while recording assists on eight goals.

Fisher led 2-1 seven minutes into the Senior Day clash before Ithaca responded with four straight goals. Panara found Wagener on the break for a goal with 21:21 left in the opening half to tie the game, then Cadwell fed Racicot for a goal and a 3-2 lead just 10 seconds later.

Silvestri then scored back-to-back tallies, the first on a free-position shot and the second off a pass from Wagener to put IC up 5-2 11 minutes in.

The Cardinals answered with two goals to close within 5-4, but Cadwell re-established the two-goal lead on a free-positon goal with 16:18 remaining in the opening stanza.

Fisher scored three straight goals and led 7-6 on Jordan Johnson's goal with 5:06 remaining, but that would be the Cardinals last lead of the game.

Cadwell's unassisted goal with 2:40 remaining knotted the score at 7-all, and the two teams went into halftime tied.

Robinson and Cadwell scored goals in a span of 1:21 early in the second half to stake IC to a 9-7 lead. Fisher got a goal back shortly after Cadwell's goal, but Racicot connected with Silvestri for a nifty goal nine minutes into the second for a 10-8 Bomber lead.

Fisher scored on a free-position shot two minutes later to once again make it a one-goal game, but the Bombers defense clamped down and held the Cardinals scoreless for 10 minutes.

During that time, Wagener assisted on Panara's goal with 14:26 remaining, and Wagener scored off an assist from Cadwell as Ithaca seized a 12-9 lead with 9:41 remaining.

The Cardinals tacked on two goals to pull within one, but the Bombers held on for the win, their 11th in their last 13 games.

Prior to the game, Ithaca honored Johnson, Robinson and fellow seniors Ally Lates, Riley Marion, and Ally Runyon for their hard work and dedication to the program. In their careers at IC, the senior class has gone 47-24 (27-2 in the Empire 8 in regular-season play). 

Tweet #ICVictory