ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca College men's soccer team captured its first Liberty League victory on Saturday with a dominant 5-0 performance over Bard.
 
Four different players found the back of the net against the Raptors.
 
The Bombers wasted no time getting on the board, scoring their first goal just 1:11 into the game.
 
Senior Eric Hepler took a pass from Duncan Schnur, made a nice move around his defender and fired a shot into the left corner of the net to put the Bombers ahead 1-0.
 
The next Ithaca goal was less than four minutes later, following a corner at the 4:44 mark. Freshman Luke Karen placed the ball in the box where junior Nate Schoen was there to finish and score his first goal of the season.
 
After the half, Ithaca added three more goals, with the first coming five minutes in. Once again, Hepler was the one to push the ball past Bard's goalkeeper, this time on a pass from Drew Cohn. The goal marks Hepler's fourth of the year, good for a three-way tie to lead the team.
 
In the 54^th minute, junior Nate Mansfield played a long ball and found the back of the net for the Bombers' fourth goal of the game and his fourth goal of the season.
 
The fifth and final goal was scored in the 79^th minute of play on a Justinian Michaels' penalty kick. The goal is Michaels' second of the season and put the Bombers up 5-0 with just over 10 minutes left to play.
 
"We are very pleased for our group," said Head Coach Kyle Dezotell. "We've been knocking on the door and we were ready to have a breakout game. We had easily our best week of training since preseason and it really showed today that the guys bought in and prepared extremely well for this game."
 
Ithaca dominated offensively, recording 23 shots compared to Bard's four. The Bombers also earned 10 corner kicks versus the Raptors' one.
 
The Bombers' defense did not give Bard many chances to get shots off. The Raptors' first shot, 13:52 in, was blocked by an Ithaca defender before a Jasper Shorter shot in the 25^th minute sailed high.
 
Goalie Max Lichtenstein was an anchor for the Bomber defense, controlling any ball around him and making two saves on the day.
 
Lichtenstein's first save was just 2:11 into the second half on a Brendan Byrne shot. He registered his second save of the day was in the 88^th minute on an Isaac Yelchin shot.
 
Ithaca had several promising chances to extend the lead, but goalie Logan Leppo was there to make the save. Leppo finished with seven saves in just over 36 minutes of play, after coming in for starting goalie Taylor Bond. Bond finished the game with seven saves, as well.
 
"It feels good to grab three important Liberty League points," said Dezotell. "We look forward to putting a good training week preparing for our double-header weekend on the road and we'll do all that we can to return home with a couple more Liberty League results."
 
The Bombers are back in action on Friday, October 13 when they travel to No. 22 Skidmore for a 4 p.m. contest. Ithaca then takes on Union the next day at 2 p.m. The team comes home for a non-conference game against Sage on Wednesday, October 18.