ITHACA, N.Y. – The 20^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse kicked off its final home weekend of the regular season with an emphatic statement on Friday afternoon at Higgins Stadium. The Bombers scored early and often in the team's most dominant performance of the season, scoring a 22-0 shutout over Bard to move to 10-4 on the year and 7-1 in Liberty League play.
 
Ithaca dominated the fixture in every sense of the word in tallying the win over the Raptors. IC scored just 42-seconds into the game and kept right on rolling en route to a 10-0 lead just 12:09 into the game. The Bombers locked in the running clock for the duration, finishing the first half with a 16-0 advantage and posting a 6-to-0 scoring mark in the second frame to collect their first shutout of the season. It marked the first time IC has kept an opponent off the scoreboard since defeating Elmira 18-0 on March 28 of last season.
 
While IC's offense clicked on all cylinders, the team's defensive corps were also in prime form on the afternoon. Ithaca limited Bard to just six total shot attempts in the game, while the Raptors committed 25 turnovers on the day. A big contributor to IC's territorial dominance was a relentless ride defense that held Bard below a 50-percent success rate on the day (8-for-18). The Bombers were also fantastic in the circle, winning 17-of-23 total draw controls on the day.
 
Ithaca set a season high on the day with 14 players registering at least one point on the afternoon. In particular, it was a day to remember for several IC freshmen, as four rookies scored their first career goals in the lopsided victory. In total, 11 different Bombers scored at least one goal, while five players recorded multi-goal efforts in the win.
 
While the freshmen performance was the overarching story of the day, the headliner came from the junior class as Elizabeth Rice continued her breakout campaign with another huge effort on Friday. Rice paced the team with eight points on seven goals and one assist, finishing just one goal shy of her career high from earlier this season and equaling her career high for points for the third time on the year. She now sits just one point back of classmate Allie Panara for the team's point lead with 59, while she looks poised to break onto the team's record book for singles season goal scoring already at 47 with still three games left in the regular season.
 
Behind Rice, two other IC upperclassmen registered three-point efforts on the day in Panara and Bailey Herr. Panara marked one goal and two helpers, in the process moving into sole possession of fourth-place on the program's career assist list. She is just one helper shy of tying her former teammate Morgan Racicot '17 for third place. Herr flipped Panara's stat line with two goals and one assist, becoming the third Ithaca player to reach the 30-goal and 50-point mark this season.
 
Other returning players to score on the day were junior attacker Maeva Cambria and sophomore midfielder Katie Welch. Each marked one goal on the afternoon.
 
The story of the day was certainly the freshmen, who performed extremely well in extended action against the Raptors. Four IC rookies scored their first career goals on the day, while six total freshmen found the back of the net at least once on the afternoon. Headlining the group was Alexa Ritchie who notched a hat trick in just her fourth collegiate appearance of her career. Madison Boutureira also registered a multi-goal game with her first two career tallies in just her third appearance this season. Both Gianna Dilaura and Alex Rabb also collected their first career goals in the game. Rounding out the group was another multi-goal effort from Jacqui Hallack, bringing her season total to 26 scores, while Indira Varma fired home her eighth goal of the campaign. Caroline Grant picked up one assist on the day.
 
Defensively, nine Ithaca players recorded at least one caused turnover. Among the starters, seniors Molly Long and Elizabeth Sauer each posted two caused turnovers to extend their lead atop the Liberty League charts. Long added two draw controls, while Sauer posted one draw control and two ground-balls. Junior Jayne Carver and freshman Molly Nodiff each posted two caused turnovers in extended action this afternoon, Carver also adding a ground-ball. Welch was the fifth IC player to have a multi-caused turnover day, finishing with two. Others to record one on the afternoon were: Becky Mehorter, Ritchie, Boutureira, and Grant.
 
Mehorter and junior Reid Simoncini also got into the act offensively for the Bombers. Each marked their first assist of the season in the win, while Simoncini once again was a force on the draw to finish with a  game-high six.
 
Senior Kimberly Presuto had a quiet day in the IC cage, but was excellent when called upon during the opening half. She marked three saves in the first 30-minutes of action to pick up her 10^th win of the campaign. Freshman Mackenzie Schade took over the net to begin the second half and was also quite solid. She denied two Bard scoring chances to maintain the shutout, one on an excellent point-blank shot from in front.
 
Ithaca returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it plays host to its final home regular season contest of the season at 2:00 p.m. against Vassar. Ithaca will honor the three graduating members of its Class of 2018 in a pre-game ceremony.