ITHACA, N.Y. – The 12^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team continued to hold serve in the tight race for home-field advantage in the upcoming Empire 8 Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The Bombers cruised past Nazareth 18-8 to improve to 6-0 in conference play this season and 11-2 overall.
 
Ithaca entered the day occupying the top spot, as one of two undefeated teams in conference play, while Nazareth remained in contention with just a single E8 loss. With both the Bombers and the Ducks scoring victories on Saturday, it is looking increasingly likely that Ithaca's contest against the Stevens will be decisive in the race for hosting rights for the Empire 8 Tournament.
 
For the second consecutive game the Bombers attack was paced by sophomore Allie Panara who remains hot as wildfire during the current stretch run. She posted a game-high eight points, scoring three goals and adding five assists. The prolific output was her fourth hat trick of the season, while it brought her season point total to 47, setting a new career high.
 
Fifth-year senior Ally Runyon continued to scorch opposing defenses with another huge effort. She registered seven points, three goals and dishing out four helpers. The effort brought her season total to 50 goals and 60 points, marking the third time she has reached both milestones during her decorated career.
 
Two other Bombers scored hat tricks on the day. Sophomore Danika Wagener also maintained her torrid run of recent contests, finishing with a game-high four goals. Senior Gaby Berne tallied three scores, her first hat-trick effort to the season.
 
Senior Morgan Racicot finished with four points for IC, netting two scores and adding two assists. The two helpers bring her career total to 66, passing Kelly Bliss '01 for sixth on the program's all-time list. Senior Morgan Cadwell chipped in a pair of goals, while senior Olivia Oppenheim finished with one score. Freshman Bailey Herr rounded out the scoring for IC with a lone assist.
 
Defensively, Ithaca was extremely aggressive, finishing with 14 caused turnovers in a strong effort against one of the conference's top attacking units. Freshman Becky Mehorter and Oppenheim each finished with three caused turnovers in the contest. Runyon, Cadwell and sophomore Erin McGee each marked two forced Golden Flyers' miscues. Senior Elizabeth Sauer and Berne also posted one caused turnover apiece.
 
Senior Kimberly Presuto improved her record to 9-2 on the year with one of her best performances of the season. She finished with seven saves, several coming on excellent attacking opportunities by the Golden Flyers.
 
Although Ithaca got off to a slow start with Nazareth scoring the first two goals in the opening five minutes of play, IC found its legs and controlled matters for the majority of the contest. The Bombers strung together a five-goal run during the middle portion of the first half to take a lead that stood firm throughout the game.
 
Cadwell opened the scoring for IC, taking a feed from Panara in the center of the attacking fan and in one motion firing a rocket into the top right corner of the net. Panara equalized the game just 1:24 later on her own laser shot into the left side of the net. Oppenheim gave Ithaca its first lead of the game with 16:58 to go in the half, while Racicot and Panara scored 2:13 apart to cap the five-goal explosion.
 
Although Nazareth responded with three of the next four goals to close within 6-5 with 6:41 remaining in the frame, the Bombers finished the half on a three-goal run to extend the advantage to 9-5 at the break. Berne was the deliverer of all three IC tallies, scoring a natural hat trick with goals at 5:53, 5:18, and 3:29 left in the half.
 
Ithaca broke things open during the second session, outscoring Nazareth 9-to-3 after the break. A five-goal run put things out of reach for the Golden Flyers, a run primarily sparked by the Bombers lightning quick transition offense.
 
Runyon dominated the draw control during the middle stretch of the second half, creating several fast break opportunities. She fed Cadwell and Wagener for transition goals right off the draw, as IC scored goals nine-seconds and eight-seconds apart during the run. In total, the Bombers put together the five-goal explosion in just 3:15 of game time to turn a 9-6 lead into a 14-6 advantage with 20:03 remaining.
 
Runyon netted her 50^th of the season to make the score 16-7 with 8:18 remaining. Wagener iced the game with two goals 51-seconds apart to lock-in the running clock for the final 3:42 of the contest.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Wednesday, April 19, when it welcomes 13^th-ranked Hamilton College for the final non-conference matchup of the regular season. Opening draw is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. at Higgins Stadium.