ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The 19^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team hit the road for the final game of its regular season on Saturday evening when it headed to Rochester for a tricky contest at RIT. The Bombers ensured that they would continue their positive momentum heading into postseason play, scoring a come-from-behind 14-10 victory over the Tigers to complete the program's first run through League play with a 9-1 mark in its inaugural season.
 
Ithaca will be the second seed in next weekend's Liberty League Tournament, earning a bye into the Semifinal Round. The Bombers knew their final position in the League standings even before opening draw, as William Smith defeated Skidmore to earn the top overall seed for the Liberty League Tournament. Both the Bombers and Herons finished with a 9-1 record in league play, but William Smith held the tiebreaker by virtue of its 9-8 win in the head-to-head matchup at Higgins Stadium earlier this season. William Smith will play host to the event on Saturday, May 5, and Sunday, May 6.
 
Saturday night's contest against RIT followed the same script as many of Ithaca's games throughout this 2018 season. IC got off to a slow start, falling behind the Tigers 4-0, before finally finding its footing in the game. Trailing 8-5 at the half, Ithaca dominated the second stanza, outscoring the Tigers 9-2 in the final 30 minutes to pull ahead for good.
 
A 6-0 scoring run midway through the second half made all the difference in tonight's game. Trailing 9-7 with 20-minutes to play, junior Danika Wagener sparked a scoring run for the Bombers that saw the team tally six times in 13:17 of game action. Powering the run was junior attacker Elizabeth Rice who scored a hat trick during the streak as part of a five-goal second half for the talented third-year player.
 
Offensively, it was Rice that paced the way for Ithaca. She finished with six goals on the night to become the team's first player to top the 60-goal mark this season. The effort brings her season total to 62 for the year, while she is up to 74 points overall.
 
Junior attacker Allie Panara also kept up her torrid scoring clip down the stretch run of the 2018 season. She finished with five points on one goal and four assists. It was her fifth straight multi-point effort, while she has totaled 31 points over that five-game stretch.
 
The effort also brought Panara's season point total to 82, just two points shy of tying Ally Runyon '17 (2017) and Julie Stone '94 (1993) for Ithaca's single-season point-scoring record. With tonight's game, she passed Becky Bedard '09 (187) for seventh on the program's all-time career point list with 191 career points, while she also moved within one assist of Bedard's single-season program record of 48 assists.
 
Three other Ithaca players record multi-goal efforts on the evening. Junior attacker Danika Wagener, junior midfielder Erin McGee and junior attacker Maeve Cambria each posted two goal games in the win. Freshman midfielder Jacqui Hallack added one goal to round out the IC scoring on the night. Sophomore Katie Welch and Bailey Herr, as well as freshman Indira Varma each posted one assist apiece.
 
Defensively, Ithaca forced nine caused turnovers on the night, while it completely locked down RIT's potent attack during the second half to pave the way for the comeback. Junior Reid Simoncini paced IC's defenders with two caused turnovers and six ground-balls, while she also accumulated seven draw controls. Hallack also finished with two caused turnovers, while Panara, Welch, Rice, Varma and Wagener each added one caused turnover in the win.
 
In goal, senior Kimberly Presuto turned in a strong effort in the win. She amassed 10 saves to improve to 13-4 on the year. It was her sixth double-digit save effort of the year.
 
Ithaca returns to action next Saturday, May 5, when it heads to Geneva, N.Y., for the Liberty League Tournament. The Bombers will face the winner of the third-seed vs. sixth-seed matchup between Skidmore and RIT. Start time will be finalized later this week.