ITHACA, N.Y. —As soon as the schedule came out, the student-athletes on the Ithaca College men's lacrosse team circled their annual clash with Empire 8 rival Nazareth College, and with good reason.
The Golden Flyers held off the Bombers 9-8 in the 2015 conference championship game, so Ithaca was eyeing a measure of redemption during Saturday's Senior Day clash at Higgins Stadium.
After a dominant all-around effort, the nationally-ranked Bombers extended their winning streak to eight games thanks to a 19-5 win over the Golden Flyers.
Sophomore
Jake Cotton scored six points on two goals with four assists, junior
Jack Shumway added six points on four goals with two assists, and junior
John Januszkiewicz tallied five goals as No. 16/17 Ithaca (10-1, 3-0 Empire 8) defeated No. 11 Nazareth (8-3, 3-1).
Senior
Michael Walker added four goals with an assist, sophomore
Greg Drillock finished with three goals and an assist, and senior
Eli Gobrecht collected five groundballs with four caused turnovers as Ithaca knocked off its second straight ranked team.
"This win means a lot to us. Nazareth ended our season last year, so it was nice to come out and beat them this year," said Walker, one of Ithaca's co-captains.
"These past two weeks we knew were going to be rough so we knew we just had to play our best lacrosse. After the RPI loss (8-7 March 5), our whole motto changed: We just needed to play our game instead of focusing on the other teams too much. So we've focused on making sure we're playing like we're capable of playing."
Januszkiewicz also collected a game-high seven groundballs, junior
Grant Osadchey won 11 of 19 faceoffs and also collected four groundballs for IC, which enjoyed a 32-20 edge in groundballs and a 51-31 edge in shots.
Senior
Scott Sidnam, a two-time Empire 8 Goalie of the Year, made 11 saves to run his record to 10-1.
Januszkiewicz caused two turnovers, as did junior
Cody Swing and sophomore
Keith Morrissey as the Bombers clamped down and held Nazareth 10 goals below its season-long scoring average.
The Bombers, who entered play ranked fourth nationally in scoring defense (5.40 goals per game), have outscored their foes 142-44 during the winning streak.
"It's a huge win on Senior Day. We had this game circled on the schedule since the schedule came out and we knew we wanted to beat this team," added Sidnam, the reigning Empire 8 Goalie of the Week.
"Nazareth ended our season last year, so we wanted to get back at them. We were playing for home field advantage for the Empire 8 tournament. So this is huge."
Walker staked IC to a 1-0 lead off a feed from Cotton just 49 seconds in, but the Golden Flyers answered with back-to-back goals for a 2-1 lead five minutes in.
The Bombers proceeded to go on a 6-0 run bridging the first and second quarters as Drillock, Januszkiewicz, and Shumway each scored twice during the spurt to put Ithaca up 7-2 early in the second.
Following a Golden Flyer goal, the Bombers closed the half on a 4-0 run thanks to a pair of tallies from Walker, and goals from Shumway and Cotton. Shumway and Walker scored man-up goals, with Walker's goal giving Ithaca an 11-3 lead heading to halftime.
Januszkiewicz pushed the lead to 12-3 when he scored 6:11 into the third, and Ithaca's defense held Nazareth scoreless for 21:01 spanning the second and third quarters.
"Our defense has been playing great. We knew coming into the year we'd have a good defense, and from day one we knew our defense would be the heart and soul of this team," Sidnam said. "It's big to get this win and it's always nice to win on Senior Day. You want it to be a good experience but we just wanted to get out of here with a win and it felt great."
Nazareth broke the scoring drought on Joe Eiskant's goal with 6:21 remaining in the third, but IC tacked on four straight goals to take a 16-4 lead. Walker, Januszkiewicz, Drillock, and Cotton found the back of the net during the scoring run.
"Everything was clicking today. The offense had no let down, and the defense was great. Every time we got the ball back we were able to put it in the back of the net. … We still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of lacrosse left to play, we just have to keep playing like we are with no let downs."
Before the game, Ithaca honored the hard work and dedication of seniors Gobrecht, Sidnam, Walker, and
Andrew Dietz. The quartet combined to lead Ithaca to three straight Empire 8 championship games, and a 50-17 record (.746 winning percentage).
Ithaca will return to action with a 4 p.m. road game at St. John Fisher College Wednesday. The Bombers then close out the home portion of the regular season at 12 p.m. Saturday hosting Empire 8 conference foe Houghton College at Higgins Stadium.
