AURORA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College field hockey team continued its offensive surge on Tuesday afternoon when it kicked off a four-game road swing at Wells College. The Bombers offense scored early and often, while the defense remained stifling in an 8-0 victory over the Express. The win marked the third consecutive shutout by IC, while Ithaca has now scored 18 goals over its last three contests.
 
It did not take long for the Bombers to gain the early leg up in the game, as they used a relentless attack to ramp up the pressure in the offensive zone. The breakthrough came in the ninth minute, as leading scorer, Colleen Keegan-Twombly, tallied her first of two goals on the afternoon. Her initial shot was denied by Wells goalkeeper, Kelsey Kokosa, but the rebound fell right to the stick of Michaela Donohue. IC's leading assist-getter slid a nifty pass back to Keegan-Twombly, who made no mistakes with the second opportunity, ripping a shot into the back of the cage.
 
It took only 3:31 for Ithaca to double the lead, as Maria McGloin scored a goal for the second consecutive game. After receiving a pass in the middle of the striking arc, McGloin fired a shot that was parried away with the blocker of Kokosa. Unfortunately for the Express keeper, the rebound bounced right back to McGloin, who quickly fired a second shot into the partially vacated cage.
 
Ithaca broke the game open with a pair of goals over a 48-second span midway through the opening half. Keegan-Twombly started the scoring spurt with her second of the afternoon, receiving an excellent pass from Cassie Schuttrumpf and lifting an arcing shot into the netting of the cage. Meg Dowd got in on the goal-scoring act shortly after the restart, converting on a mad scramble at the right post for her first tally of her collegiate career. Just like that the IC lead grew to 4-0.
 
Donohue capped the scoring in the opening half with an excellently crafted goal off of a penalty corner opportunity. With Ithaca enjoying a player advantage due to a green card issued to Wells' forward, Kelly Mason, Taylor Streko inserted the ball into play. Ithaca's Amanda Schell settled the ball down and fired a hard shot toward the cage, which was deflected by Donohue on the way in. The scoring tally was the juniors' second of the season and first in five contests.
 
Ithaca took the 5-0 lead to the break, while it held a 21-to-4 advantage in shot attempts. The Bombers did not let off the gas in the second session, scoring three more goals and ramping up a 23-to-1 shot advantage after halftime.
 
Lauren Delia added a goal in the 46^th minute to stretch her goal-scoring streak to three consecutive games. Receiving a pass from freshman, Marissa Harris, the senior forward lasered a shot into the cage to up the lead to 6-0.
 
Dowd continued her breakout afternoon just over eight minutes later. She tipped home a cross-arc pass from Erin Connors at the far left post. Ithaca's eighth goal came in the 64^th minute, as Kendall Keil also joined Dowd with her first collegiate goal. The freshman fired in a rebound off of an initial shot by Brooke Novello that was blocked.
 
Ithaca finished with a 44-to-5 advantage in shot attempts in the contest. It was the most shots and widest advantage in shot attempts for the Bombers since they fired a team-record 62 shot attempts in a 9-0 victory over Morrisville State on September 7, 2013.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Saturday, October 1, when it travels to Rochester, N.Y., to face St. John Fisher. Start time for the Empire 8 showdown is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.