VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The 14^th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team opened a two-game stretch in its spring break destination of Virginia Beach on Tuesday afternoon when it returned to non-league play against the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Facing its most challenging test of the early season to-date, the Bombers passed with flying colors in rolling past the upstart Bears for a 15-5 victory. The win improves Ithaca's record to 4-0 on the year.
 
Tuesday figured to be a challenge for IC, as Coast Guard entered the tilt red-hot. The Bears were 4-0 coming into the matchup, which included an overtime win over then-No. 2 Wesleyan (Conn.) during last week's action. Ithaca responded to the challenge by turning in its most comprehensive effort of the spring, seizing on the momentum generated from a dominant second half this past Saturday in a road victory at Liberty League foe Skidmore.
 
The Bombers dominated the contest right from the get-go on Tuesday. IC racked up a 9-1 lead in the first 27-minutes with lethal attacking and strong defending. Coast Guard never closed within seven goals for the remainder of the game. IC finished with a 63-to-25 advantage in shots, a 35-to-14 edge in shots on goal, and a 17-to-29 advantage in turnovers.
 
Six IC players posted multi-point efforts in the contest. IC was keyed by freshman Connor Brumfield, who led the Bombers with five points on four goals and one assist. The effort was a career best for the IC rookie, who has now scored multi-goal efforts in each of the last two games.
 
Three Ithaca players record four-point efforts. Sophomore transfer Ryan Ozsvath continued to fill the net with regularity, marking a hat trick and chipping in one assist. The run brought his season goal total to a team-best 16 through four games. Junior Josh Della Puca posted one goal and three helpers, while junior Conner Crosson marked four helpers one game after scoring four goals last time out.
 
Senior attacker Jake Cotton joined Ozsvath and Brumfield in netting a hat trick. He finished the game with three goals, bringing his career total to 90 and his point total to 211 for his career. He is poised to pass 2017-graduates Jack Shumway and John Januskiewicz in the not-too-distant future.
 
Brendan King posted three points on one goal and two assists. Freshman Dillon Fitzpatrick and senior Stephen Morrell added goals, while graduate defender Winston Wenham also sent home a rare goal for the Bombers to cap the scoring.
 
Faceoff specialist, senior Stephen Landspurg, had a strong day at the 'X'. He won 14-of-24 draws, corralling six ground-balls. He also added one caused turnover.
 
Defensively, Wenham had a monster afternoon. He finished with a game-high five caused turnovers and added five ground-balls. Senior Keith Morrissey chipped in three caused turnovers and three ground-balls, while he also registered an assist. Sophomore Aaron McCartney added two caused turnovers.
 
In goal, sophomore Robby Atwood ran his record to 4-0 with another solid performance. He tallied nine saves and was quite active throughout the day despite not seeing a ton of rubber in the direction of the IC cage for vast stretches of play.
 
Four different goal scorers found the back of the net during the opening 15-minutes, as IC took a 4-1 lead to the first intermission. Cotton got things going just over a minute into play, while Brumfield, Dillon Fitzpatrick and Ozsvath added tallies during the first quarter.
 
A five-goal surge to begin the second quarter ultimately proved to be the difference, as Ithaca built the lead out to a comfortable margin at 9-1, before Will Iorio struck for the Bears with a minute remaining to make the score 9-2 at halftime. Much like the first quarter, Ithaca varied its attack from several different outlets. Della Puca got things started 27-seconds into the frame, while Morrell added his lone goal of the day 2:11 later. Brumfield pushed the advantage wider with his second goal of the day with 8:28 left, while Cotton broke the Bears spirit with a goal with Ithaca playing a down a man due to an illegal procedure call.
 
Brumfield added two more goals in the second session to cap his big afternoon, while King posted a goal as well. Wenham capped the scoring at 6:28 left.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Thursday, March 15, when it takes on SUNY Geneseo in a 1:00 p.m. start in Virginia Beach.