ITHACA, N.Y. – The 13^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse had its Empire 8 Tournament run cut short by familiar nemesis St. John Fisher College in a semifinal round matchup at Higgins Stadium on Saturday morning. The Bombers fell to the Cardinals 17-10 on rain-soaked South Hill, dropping their record to 13-4 on the year.
 
The Bombers have become accustomed to a meeting with the Cardinals over recent seasons, as it was the sixth straight seasons the two Empire 8 titans have met in the conference tournament. Unfortunately, St. John Fisher kept up its run of success over recent seasons, taking their sixth straight win in the E8 postseason.
 
The turning point in today's contest came with just under 21-minutes remaining in regulation. With the contest tied at 9-9, St. John Fisher began to assert itself in the draw control circle, dominating possession over the remainder of regulation. The Cardinals used their substantial possession advantage during the stretch to rattle off seven straight goals over a 10:53 span to pull away for a 16-9 lead with 10-minutes remaining. The seven-goal run ended up to be the margin of victory in the 17-10 defeat.
 
Senior Morgan Racicot led the Bombers with five points. She scored twice and added three assists, in the process moving into third place on the program's all-time assist list with 76 career helpers.
 
Sophomore Allie Panara also posted a strong performance for the Bombers with four points. She scored twice and added two more assists. She also added three of Ithaca's 15 draw controls. Seniors Gaby Berne and Olivia Oppenheim each marked a pair of goals in the defeat.
 
Rounding out the goal scoring for IC was senior Ally Runyon and freshman Bailey Herr. Each player chipped in one scoring tally. Sophomore Maeve Cambria added an assist.
 
Defensively, junior Molly Long marked a game-high three caused turnovers and corralled two ground-balls. Junior Elizabeth Sauer and sophomore Reid Simoncini each finished with two caused turnovers and one grounder apiece, while freshman Becky Mehorter added a forced Fisher miscue and two ground-balls.
 
Junior goalie Kimberly Presuto picked up her fourth loss of the season in goal, but played well despite the substantial Fisher offensive pressure. She made eight saves the majority coming in during the opening half.
 
Fisher came out firing during the opening minutes of the game to take a substantial early lead in the game. The Cardinals scored goals twice in the span of 35-seconds in opening 1:51 of play, while the visitors stretched the advantage to a 5-1 lead when Claire Bollin scored her second of the half with 18:13 left in the frame.
 
Ithaca showed great fight in battling back to tie the score with 7:45 remaining in the half. The Bombers strung together a four-goal run, which included goals from Racicot, Herr, Panara and Oppenheim. The senior midfielder's free-position score with 7:45 remaining tied the score at 5-5.
 
The two sides traded punches during the remainder of the opening frame. Jamie Wallace reestablished the Fisher lead 33-seconds after Oppenheim's goal, while Bollin netted her hat-trick goal with 4:42 left in the half.  Ithaca responded with two goals over a 42-second stretch, when Panara and Berne tickled the twine. Berne's goal was a thing of beauty, as she took a long pass from the right sideling by Cambria and in one motion roofed a scoop shot just under the crossbar to equalize the game at 7-all.
 
Berne gave Ithaca its first lead 44-seconds into the second half when she scored from the high-slot after a great feed from Racicot. However, the lead lasted only 1:03, as Cori Holbrook scored twice in a row to help the Cardinals retake the lead at 9-8. Although Oppenheim would again level the score with 23:41 remaining, Fisher's big second-half run put things out of reach.
 
Runyon scored the Bombers' third goal of the half with 5:18 remaining to make it 16-10, but it was too-little-too-late for Ithaca to mount a serious comeback effort.
 
Ithaca will await its fate, as the NCAA Division III committee will announce the 2017 NCAA Tournament field tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. Stay tuned to the Ithaca College Athletics website and social media accounts for updates.