ITHACA, N.Y. – Senior attacker Jake Cotton reached a career milestone, freshman Connor Brumfield continued his torrid scoring stretch, and the 15^th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team picked up a big non-league win to further enhance the resume on Wednesday night in a 13-9  victory over No. 20 SUNY Cortland at Higgins Stadium. The triumph improves IC's record to 12-2 on the year with just one more regular season contest remaining.
 
Wednesday night's game has been circled on Ithaca's calendar since the schedule was finalized, as it marked the renewal of its rivalry with SUNY Cortland. Fueling IC's fire was the memory of what happened the last time these regional rivals faced each other over one year ago, as the Bombers let a big early lead slip away in a sudden-victory overtime defeat on the Red Dragon's home turf. The Bombers scored a measure of redemption in the rematch at Higgins Stadium, scoring a victory that may prove to be critical for NCAA Tournament selection in the weeks ahead.
 
Trailing 6-5 at halftime, the Bombers took control with perhaps its strongest stretch of play of the year during the third quarter. Ithaca outscored Cortland 5-0 in the decisive third frame to take control of the contest. Although the Red Dragons would cut the deficit to just two goals twice during the fourth quarter, the home side turned in a strong effort down the stretch to seal the victory late.
 
A trio of Ithaca players turned in five-point nights to pace IC's lethal attack. Brumfield continued his torrid tear down the back half of the schedule with his fourth consecutive multi-point effort. He registered four goals and one assist to mark his fifth hat trick and third five-point game of the season. Junior midfielders Josh Della Puca and Conner Crosson also bagged five points on the night. Della Puca looked his old self in shaking off an injury that has hampered him over recent weeks. He delivered fantastic plays all night in dishing three assists and adding two scores of his own. Crosson led IC with four assists and chipped in a goal of his own.
 
Senior attacker Jake Cotton hit a milestone on the night in stretching his scoring streak to seven straight games. He finished with two goals and an assist, in the process scoring his 100^th and 101^st career goals. He becomes just the third Ithaca player to record 100 career goals and 100 career assists, joining former stars Barry Cohen '80 and Brian Weil '05.
 
Junior Brendan King added a multi-point effort with one goal and one assist in the contest. Junior Greg Drillock added his first goal of the season, while sophomore Ryan Ozsvath and senior Kaelan Fitzpatrick posted one goal apiece. Junior Owen Smith and sophomore defenseman Aaron McCartney each chipped in a point apiece on assists.
 
Defensively, the Bombers tallied 14 caused turnovers in the contest. Senior Keith Morrissey led the way with four caused turnovers and three ground-balls, while graduate-student Winston Wenham and second-year McCartney posted three caused turnovers apiece. Wenham amassed five ground-balls, while McCartney corralled a team-high eight in a huge night for the second-year standout. Freshman Drew German and senior Steven Landspurg each notched one caused turnover, while King added two in the contest.
 
Sophomore netminder Robby Atwood collected his 12^th win of the season with a solid effort. He marked five saves in the game, while also corralling five ground-balls.
 
It was a bit of a slow start for IC, but the team responded with three answers to Red Dragon goals in the opening 15-minutes. Della Puca leveled the game at 1-1 a little less than five-minutes in when he lasered home a feed from King from the right wing. Brumfield kicked off his big scoring night with a goal at 2:59, finishing a tic-tac-toe transition play from Cotton-to-Crosson-to-Brumfield at the right post. The Bombers leveled the game a third time with just 3.7-seconds left in the opening quarter when Cotton notched his 100^th on a similar transition play.
 
Cortland took a two-goal lead early in the second quarter on goals from Terrence Haggerty and Joey Panariello, going up 5-3 with 9:50 left in the half. However, Ithaca used a man-up to get back into the contest. Cotton rifled home his second of the night from the right wing, while Brumfield scored 31-seconds later to level the score with 3:06 left in the half. Brumfield's goal was a thing of beauty, as the rookie skied for a high pass from Smith and seamlessly whipped a shot as he was checked to the turf on the return to ground.
 
Unfortunately, the visitors would take the lead to the halftime break when Haggerty scored his third of the half to put the Red Dragons up 6-5 with 1:44 left.
 
Not deterred by the late goal, Ithaca came out flying to begin the third quarter. Ozsvath got things started 46-seconds in, taking a Crosson feed from behind the net to the low slot. The sophomore double-pumped to fake the keeper and whipped a shot into the lower right to tie the score.
 
Ithaca took its first lead of the game with 10:49 remaining on a play directly created by McCartney. He picked off a pass in his own end and rumbled down the middle, before dishing to an open Brumfield on the wing for a howitzer shot from the left point. Two minutes later Ithaca extended the lead when Brumfield finished off a great Della Puca pass to the left post, while just 1:05 later Crosson also was the beneficiary of a cross-zone pass from Della Puca.
 
Della Puca fittingly capped the team's best quarter of the season, scoring his 16^th of the season on an absolute sniper shot into the upper right corner of the cage.
 
The opening minutes of the fourth quarter were nerve wracking, as the Red Dragons began to mount a comeback that felt eerily similar to last year's contest. Haggerty and Rob Free scored goals in the opening 3:36 to close the IC lead to 10-8. Although King responded with big goal, Haggerty scored his fifth of the game to again cut the deficit to 11-9 with 8:03 left.
 
IC's defense and goaltending buckled down over the stretch, while the Bombers added two goals over a 50-second span with under four minutes left to ice the game. Drillock scored his first of the season just after an IC man-up opportunity expired with 3:36 left. Kaelan Fitzpatrick capped the scoring with 2:46 left, finishing off a Cotton pass from the slot.
 
Ithaca returns to action on Wednesday, April 25, when it hosts Clarkson in the Liberty League regular season finale. Start time is 4:00 p.m.