ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The ninth-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team got back on track on Saturday afternoon when it hit the road for an Empire 8 tilt at Nazareth College. The Bombers pulled away with a strong offensive second half, scoring a 13-8 victory over the Golden Flyers to move to 9-2 on the year and 3-1 in Empire 8 play.
 
Junior Greg Drillock paced the Ithaca attack with four points, scoring three goals and tallying one assist. It was Drillock's first hat-trick effort of the season.
 
Senior John Januszkiewicz and sophomore Will Witter each tallied a hat trick for the Bombers. Senior Jack Shumway and junior Jake Cotton also tallied three-point efforts for IC. Shumway dished out three assists, while Cotton scored once and added two helpers. With the three points, Januszkiewicz and Shumway moved into sixth and seventh, respectively, on the program's all-time point list with 197 and 195 points for their careers..
 
Juniors Kaelan Fitzpatrick and Stephen Morrell each chipped in two points, netting one goal and one assist apiece. Sophomore Owen Smith rounded out the IC scoring with one goal.
 
Defensively, junior defender Winston Wenham and junior midfielder Steven Landspurg each posted two caused turnovers. Senior long-stick Cody Swing also marked one caused turnover.
 
Senior Jack Deragon made 10 saves in the Ithaca cage to move to 8-2 on the season.
 
Offense was at a premium during the opening 30-minutes, as neither team was able to gain a foothold during the first half. Januszkiewicz netted his 10^th of the season to equal the game at 1-1 47-seconds into the contest, while Witter scored his 18^th of the year to level to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 5:08 left in the first. Drillock finished the scoring in the half, scoring with 6:19 left in the second quarter to tie the game at 3-3.
 
The Bombers took control of the game during a dominant third quarter. Ithaca outscored the Golden Flyers 6-to-1 during the quarter to take a commanding five-goal lead into the final 15-minutes. Powering the run was a five-goal surge over the final 9:15 of the frame to take a 9-4 advantage into the fourth.
 
Cotton sparked the run with his 13^th goal of the season to give IC a 5-4 lead with 9:15 to go in the third quarter. Ithaca never trailed after. Smith doubled the IC lead 33-seconds later to make the score 6-4.
 
Witter scored twice during the run, tallying back-to-back goals. He capitalized on a Cotton feed with 6:07 left, while he netted an unassisted tally for his 20^th goal of the year to complete his hat trick with 3:12 to go in the third. Januszkiewicz found the back of the net with 19-seconds left in the frame to cap the dominant period.
 
The lead was more than enough for IC to hold down the stretch. Drillock scored two goals during the final frame, while Morrell and Januszkiewicz each added a single goal in the fourth.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Wednesday, April 12, when it welcomes St. John Fisher for a 4:00 p.m. opening faceoff at Higgins Stadium. The game will kick off a five-game homestand to conclude the regular season.