ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College field hockey team was back on the turf at Higgins Stadium for the final game of its season-long three-game homestand on Friday afternoon, facing its most challenging home test to-date against 12^th-ranked Vassar. The Bombers entered play on Friday a perfect 5-0 at home in 2018; however, they were not able to keep the run of success going, falling 1-0 to the nationally-ranked Brewers. The loss drops Ithaca to 9-4 on the year and 2-2 inside Liberty League competition.
 
Ithaca knew it was going to face a significant challenge against not only one of the most talented teams in the Liberty League, but also the entire country. The Brewers entered play on Friday riding an eight-game winning streak and losers of only one contest all year. The visitors certainly showcased their talent, depth and will to win in an impressive display. When the final horn went on Friday, Vassar held advantages of 29-to-3 in shot attempts, 16-to-1 in shots on goal, and 18-to-5 in penalty corner opportunities. Despite the hefty advantages, the Bombers showed the resolve and tenacity that has led them to one of their best campaigns in recent memory, battling to the very last whistle in a tight contest.
 
Trailing the game 1-0 following Alyssa More's icebreaker for the Brewers in the 46^th-minute, the Bombers hung tough until the very end of the game. Although possession in the attacking third was hard to come by, the Bombers earned their fifth penalty corner of the game with under 30-seconds remaining in regulation and took time to set up for an equalizing chance with time expired.
 
Unfortunately, it was an anti-climactic finish for Ithaca. The play started promising enough, as junior midfielder Kendall Keil inserted a smooth pass to the center-point of the arc to Maddy Ryan. The senior midfielder loaded up a hard slap shot towards the cage, but the ball struck an on-rushing Vassar defender flush on the knee, sending the player down to the turf in considerable pain. Play was whistled dead for a Vassar foul, while the injured player was attended to by athletic trainers; however, after a brief consultation between the officials the contest was declared final since the foul occurred just outside the arc.
 
Despite the disappointing end, much credit has to be given to the Brewers who turned in an excellent example of suffocating possession throughout the majority of the contest. While the opening minutes featured some back-and-forth play, the visitors really began to take control midway through the first half and never looked back. The storyline in the opening 35-minutes was the IC backline and some timely goalie work from junior net-minder Savanna Lenker. The combination of the two sent the game into the half scoreless.
 
Vassar's first significant flurry of penalty corner chances came 16:30 into the game, as the Brewers earned four successive opportunities over a 1:45 span. The Ithaca defense held strong, allowing just one shot on target over the four chances, which was parried away by Lenker.
 
Five minutes later, Vassar again put the pressure on with five successive penalty corner chances. Again the Bombers turned in heroic work to keep the contest deadlocked at 0-0. The best opportunity for the Brewers during the sequence came on the third penalty corner of the sequence. Lenker stopped an initial shot by Niki Rizzo; however, the rebound squirted out near the left post. Vassar's Mikayla Young got a stick to it, directing it towards the empty cage, but IC's senior back Kimmy Briscoe did well to stop the ball with her stick before it was able to cross the goal line.
 
The Brewers nearly struck with just under five-minutes to play in the first half, but again Lenker and the backline teamed up with a pair of stops. Lenker denied Vassar's Sam Plante on a chance and then first-year back Anna Parrish stopped an Emily Pouhlein put-back attempt on the goal line, before Vassar was eventually called for the foul. The Bombers turned the Brewers away on one final penalty corner with under a minute left in the half, not allowing either of the visitor's two shot attempts to go on-target.
 
Vassar picked up right where it left off when play resumed for the second half, earning another penalty corner within the first minute. Once again, IC held strong, stymieing the visitor's on that chance, as well as another one roughly two minutes later to keep the game scoreless. Another defensive save from Parrish 7:06 into the second half kept the game deadlocked; however, the Brewers were clearly honing in on that icebreaker.
 
The visitor's finally solved IC's stern defense in the 46^th-minute. Although Lenker made a pair of saes denying Cristina Lopez and Grace Yacura on hard shots, the Brewers capitalized on a rebound. It was Alyssa More that started and finished the play, beating her marking defender one-on-one in the right corner and carrying possession on a streak to the right post. She fed a pass into the slot to Yacura. Although the Ithaca defense did a nice job of converging to deny Yacura a shot attempt, the Vassar player was able to redirect a pass back towards the near post that More tapped in on the backhand.
 
Ithaca showed resiliency immediately following the Vassar goal. In the team's first significant offensive possession since early in the first half, the Bombers earned three successive penalty corner opportunities. Unfortunately, they could not find the equalizer. Keil had the lone shot attempt of the stretch, which was saved by Vassar keeper Liz Rotolo. That chance would be it for IC until the aforementioned chance to end regulation.
 
Ithaca will look to regroup in short order, as the team hits the road to face RPI in a crucial Liberty League test on Sunday, October 14. Start time for the contest is set for 1:00 p.m.