CORTLAND, N.Y. – The ninth-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team played its latest installment of the heated regional rivalry with No. 15 SUNY Cortland on Tuesday afternoon. Last season the Bombers used overtime heroics to down the nationally-ranked Red Dragons 11-10 in a thriller at Higgins Stadium. Tuesday's contest proved equally thrilling; however, the late heroics again came from the home team, as Cortland was able to escape for a 12-11 victory at Stadium Red.
 
Trailing by six goals after the early stages of the second half, Ithaca launched a furious over the final 18-minutes and change, twice evaporating the deficit to a single goal with under nine-minutes to play. IC had a final chance to level the score and send the game into overtime, but unfortunately, Cortland keeper Annie Casey was able to stone Ithaca's junior midfielder Erin McGee with five-seconds remaining to allow Cortland to hold off the Bombers in this white-knuckle March contest.
 
Leading the way offensively for IC was junior attacker Allie Panara who reasserted herself as the go-to option in the attacking zone down the stretch. She finished with a team-best five points, collecting three goals and adding two assists. It marked the fourth time this season Panara has tallied five-or-more points, while it was her third hat-trick effort of 2018. The third-year player also paced IC with seven draw controls, which included several crucial wins during Ithaca's furious comeback.
 
Junior attacker Elizabeth Rice tallied two goals on the afternoon to become the first Ithaca player to eclipse 20 scores on the season. It was her fifth multi-goal effort of the campaign. Sophomore attacker Bailey Herr also added a two-point effort with a goal and an assist. Junior attacker Maeve Cambria also netted a crucial goal down the stretch, her third of the season.
 
The team's rookies also had a monumental impact on the game, continuing to show strong resilience despite facing a significant deficit against a nationally-ranked opponent on the road. The rookies sparked IC's comeback with three goals by freshmen to turn the tide in the Bombers favor with under 20-minutes left. Indira Varma and Rachel Rosenberg each tallied a goal, while Jacqui Hallack continued her prolific scoring pace with two goals on the day.
 
Defensively, the Bombers struggled to contain the Red Dragons during a fast-paced opening half. However, the backline once again continued its trend of clamping down on opponents in the final 30-minutes, holding Cortland to just three scores after the break. The team forced 10 caused turnovers in the tilt.
 
Junior defender Reid Simoncini had her best game of the campaign and looks to be hitting her stride after working back into starting role over recent contests. She paced the team with three caused turnovers and added three ground-balls, while she proved vital in helping escape Cortland's pestering ride. Senior defender Elizabeth Sauer added two caused turnovers and a ground-ball, while senior defender Molly Long and sophomore defender Becky Mehorter each added one caused turnover and two ground-balls apiece.
 
In goal, senior Kimberly Presuto also buckled down after a tough start to the game. She finished with 12 saves in the losing effort, which dropped her record to 4-2 on the year. The senior captain really came up large in the second half, making three key stops during the Bombers surge down the stretch.
 
The Bombers actually began the contest looking strong in possession, but Casey was the primary reason that IC faced an early deficit. Despite winning three of the first four draws in the tilt, Casey made several nice stops on excellent Ithaca scoring opportunities. On the other end, Cortland was able to find the cracks early, as Lexie Meager and Brie Yonge each tallied in the opening 5:40 to lift the home side to a 2-0 lead.
 
Rice got Ithaca on the board at the 22:51 mark when she fired home a free-position score. It was one of two free-position tallies on the day, while the Bombers finished just 2-of-9 despite out-chancing the Red Dragons 9-to-3 in that statistic.
 
After another Cortland score, Panara again closed IC within one goal at the midway point of the opening period. She rifled home a free-position opportunity inside the left post to cut the score to 3-2.
 
It looked as though Panara had scored another goal shortly after Cortland again pushed the lead to two goals, but the apparent goal was waved off due to a whistle for a shooting-space violation. On the ensuing free-position opportunity, Casey was able to deny Panara. However, IC got a save on the other end from Presuto and the Bombers closed the deficit to 4-3 when Rice tallied her second goal of the half. The junior duo of Panara and Rice combined on the pretty sequence, as Panara peeled off the left post and hit Rice streaking down the slot. Rice fired a laser inside the right post.
 
Unfortunately, the Red Dragons would take control of the game over the final 10-minutes of the opening half. Capitalizing on some sloppiness and unforced miscues by the Bombers, the Cortland strung together a 4-1 scoring run to take an 8-4 lead in the game. Although Herr briefly cut the deficit back to three goals with an excellent power move to the net-front with 24-seconds left, Carly Stone answered back for the Red Dragons right as time expired to ensure Cortland would take a 9-5 lead to the break.
 
The home side continued to hold onto that momentum during the early stages of the second stanza. Stone and Hannah Tiso fired home goals during the opening nine minutes to extend Cortland's lead to 11-5. On the other end, Casey stopped a pair of Ithaca chances. However, Ithaca did not wilt and would make things exciting down the stretch.
 
Pressing the issue with under 20-minutes to play, it was Varma that got the Bombers going in the second half. Picking up possession at the top of the attacking fan, she muscled through two Cortland defenders and buried a shot into the bottom right of the cage to spark the rally. Almost exactly three-minutes later, Rosenberg continued to build momentum with a goal of her own. It was Varma that started the sequence on a free-position, but her bounce-shot drifted wide of the left post. Herr was there behind the cage to corral the miss and she fired a pass back into a congested area in the slot. Rosenberg was able to pick up possession in the chaos and rifled a sneaky shot past Casey to make the score 11-7.
 
Ithaca truly got back within striking distance 1:31 later when Hallack netted her second goal of the day. Playing down a player after Rosenberg was whistled for a yellow card, the Bombers struck for a woman-down tally. Working in transition following a Cortland turnover forced by Simoncini, the Bombers quick-upped a pass to Herr in the left of the attacking zone near the goal-line extended. She threaded the needle on a pass that evaded the stick of a Cortland defender, as well as Cortland's keeper Casey who came out of the crease on an intercept attempt. The ball nestled in the crosse of Hallack who was wide open on the right post. She dumped a shot into the yawning cage to make the score 11-8.
 
The ensuing possession was a display of dominance by IC, who retained possession for nearly three minutes and created a volume of chances before ultimately capitalizing. Hallack struck the post on a free-position opportunity, but McGee retained possession with a ground-ball. Cycling the ball up high, McGee found Panara on a nice backdoor cut, which the latter fired inside the left post to cut the deficit to just two goals at 11-9 with 11:52 remaining.
 
Cambria closed the deficit even further when she capped the five-goal Bomber run with a score with 8:20 left. Working in her typical space in the right of the attacking zone, she beat her defender one-on-one and bested Casey with a snap shot.
 
The Bombers had three attempts to tie the game over the final stretch, but a combination of bad luck and strong keeping from Casey kept Cortland just ahead. Cambria struck the post on a free-position shot, while Panara had an opportunity saved by Casey. Hallack also had a shooting chance, but her shot sailed high of the cage.
 
Cortland ultimately scored the clinching goal with 1:12 left when Hannah Lorenzen bested Presuto for the first time in over 20-minutes of game action to widen the lead to 12-10; however, there were still fireworks down the stretch. Panara won the ensuing the draw and cashed in for her third goal of the game shortly thereafter to again bring Ithaca within one goal at 12-11. Hallack won possession on the next draw, which turned into McGee shot with 31-seconds left that Casey stopped. The Bombers harassed the clear and again had one final chance, but McGee's shot against found its way into the crosse of Casey as time expired to end the thrilling, but heart-breaking contest.
 
Ithaca returns to action this weekend when it travels to face SUNY Geneseo on Saturday, March 24. Action is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.