ITHACA, N.Y. – The 12^th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse secured home-field advantage for its opening round Empire 8 Tournament game on Saturday afternoon, blowing past Hartwick College for an 18-8 victory. The Bombers will host Nazareth College in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup on Wednesday, May 3. Ithaca concludes the regular season with a 13-3 overall record and a 7-1 mark in Empire 8 competitions.
 
Ithaca honored nine members of its graduating Class of 2017 in a pre-game ceremony. Once play got underway, it did not take long for the Bombers to secure a tight grip on their 28^th Empire 8 victory since the class arrived on South Hill four seasons ago. An eight-goal opening quarter paved the way for a lopsided 18-8 victory, the eighth time this season and second time this week IC struck for 18-plus goals.
 
The Bombers enjoyed offensive production throughout the lineup on Saturday. Five players registered three points in the game to pace the squad. John Januszkiewicz, Connor Hulme and Sean Ferrito each netted hat tricks for IC, while Stephen Morrell registered one goal and two assists and Tyler Krampf chipped in three helpers.
 
Ithaca received two-point efforts from four other players. Jake Cotton, Josh Della Puca and Brendan King each posted one goal and one assist efforts on the afternoon. Will Witter also marked multiple points on a pair of scoring strikes.
 
Rounding out the scoring for IC was Greg Drillock, Grant Osadchey and Dan Lee who each tallied a lone goal. Keith Morrissey, Jack Shumway, Kaelan Fitzpatrick and Conner Crosson each finished with a single assist.
 
Defensively, the Bombers forced 13 caused turnovers. Quinn Sherer and Morrissey each finished with two caused turnovers. Winston Wenham and Aaron McCartney each marked one caused turnover in the contest. Sean Seaberg, Chase Harrington, Steven Landspurg also added caused turnovers.
 
Justin Isaacs picked up his second career victory in as many contests, making four saves and allowing two goals in 30-minutes of action. Atwood played the third quarter and allowed one score, while Davis Bird made four stops during the final quarter.
 
The Bombers took control of the game by virtue of a 10-goal run spanning the first and midway through the second quarters. Januszkiewicz fired home three goals during the opening quarter, closing out the opening 15-minutes with his hat trick goal with 13-seconds remaining. IC led 8-1 through the opening quarter and added three more goals during the second, before Hartwick tallied a second goal.
 
Connor Hulme and Brendan King closed out the scoring in the opening half with goals 2:42 apart to widen the lead to 13-2 at the halftime break.
 
Although the Hawks tallied six goals to Ithaca's five in the final 30-minutes, the Bombers had things well in-hand. Hulme and Ferrito closed out the third quarter with back-to-back goals, while Lee and Hulme added a pair of scoring strikes during the fourth period.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Wednesday, May 3, as the Bombers face Nazareth in the opening round Empire 8 Semifinal at Higgins Stadium. Start time for the contest is still to be decided.