POTSDAM, N.Y. – Less than 24-hours after gutting out a challenging 12-10 win in the snow at St. Lawrence, the 16^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team was right back in the frigid North Country conditions this afternoon when it faced red-hot Clarkson in the second leg of the weekend back-to-back. Despite the obvious challenges of playing two games in such a short timeframe, Ithaca used a dominant second half, shrugging aside any fatigue to best the Golden Knights 11-5. The win improved the Bombers record to 8-3 on the year and a perfect 5-0 in Liberty League action.
 
Ithaca has relied on its ability to make in-game adjustments to grow stronger as contests have moved along throughout the season. That trend certainly continued today. Trailing 4-3 after a Clarkson score by Jayd Batos, the Bombers capped the first-half on a three-goal run to take a 6-4 lead into the break. IC continued the momentum to pull away during the second half, firing home five additional goals to widen the margin, before Clarkson was able to add an inconsequential late tally with 28-seconds left.
 
It was the junior duo of Elizabeth Rice and Allie Panara that paved the way for IC's victory over St. Lawrence yesterday evening. The two third-year attackers have their fingerprints all over this afternoon's triumph as well. Rice paced Ithaca with five points on four goals and one assist, bringing her weekend totals to 11 points on seven goals and four helpers. Panara posted a four-point effort, scoring two goals and chipping in two more assists. The two assists brought her career total to 70, in the process passing Becky Guzzo '14 (69) for fifth on the program's all-time list.
 
Three other IC players registered multi-point efforts on the day. Sophomore attacker Bailey Herr rung up three goals on the day, scoring two in the first and one in the second half. It was her fifth hat-trick effort of the year. Junior attacker Maeve Cambria and freshman midfielder Jacqui Hallack each recorded two points, posting one goal and one assist apiece.
 
Sophomore midfielder Katie Welch and freshman midfielder Indira Varma each posted one assist to round out IC's point scoring.
 
Defensively, the Bombers were paced by the senior duo of Molly Long and Elizabeth Sauer. Long finished the day with three caused turnovers and four ground-balls, while Sauer reversed the stat line with four caused turnovers and three ground-balls. Sophomore Becky Mehorter and freshman Molly Nodiff each recorded one caused turnover, while Mehorter added two ground-balls and Nodiff corralled one grounder. Additionally, junior Reid Simoncini continued to play a huge role in IC's draw control efforts, finishing with a game-high five in the contest.
 
In goal, senior Kimberly Presuto turned in one of her finest efforts of the season. She conceded just five times, while finishing with nine saves to improve her record to 8-3 on the year. Six of the senior's saves came after halftime, keeping the Golden Knights off the board for 29:32, before the home side finally was able to get one past her with under a minute to play.
 
The first half was very evenly matched during the opening minutes of the game. IC pulled ahead by a goal three separate times in the first 10-minutes, as Panara, Hallack and Herr each sending a shot past Clarkson keeper Samantha Gladd. Those scores were answered by Golden Knights scores from Emma Andrews, Jayd Batos and Aubrey Borgesi, respectively, which ultimately leveled the score at 3-3 with 19:05 left.
 
The home side took its first and only lead of the game as the first half neared its midway point. Batos bested Presuto with a snap shot to briefly put the Golden Knights ahead with 15:55 left in the frame. However, a three-goal run in the final eight minutes of the half ensured the Bombers would take a 6-4 advantage to the break.
 
Rice got things started with 7:42 to play in the half. Taking a feed from Cambria at the center point, she had a step on the defender and whipped a shot into the bottom right of the cage to tie the game up at 4-4. Just 43-seconds later, Panara and Herr teamed up to put IC ahead, ultimately for good. Herr finished off the pass from Panara to push ahead 5-4. Cambria capped the three-goal surge 1:16 after Herr's go-ahead score, rifling home a shot top shelf.
 
The second half was all about timely scoring and lock-down defense and goalkeeping by the Bombers. After a scoreless first 10-minutes, Rice scored twice in a span of 57-seconds to gain some breathing room over the Golden Knights. Her second tally put the Bombers up 8-4 with 18:50 remaining.
 
Herr joined Rice in the hat-trick club when she pumped in her third of the day with 9:28 to play. Rice followed with her fourth score 1:11 later to widen the margin to 10-4. Panara capped IC's scoring on a free-position with 1:52 remaining.
 
Unfortunately, Emma Andrews was able to snap Presuto's second-half shutout bid when she put one past the IC keeper with 28-seconds to play. The goal was just window-dressing with the game well decided by that point.
 
Ithaca's victory sets up a huge matchup that will likely have huge seeding implications for the upcoming Liberty League Tournament. The Bombers will be back in action on Wednesday, April 11, when they make their return to Higgins Stadium in a matchup against nationally-ranked and fellow Liberty League unbeaten William Smith. The contest is set to start at 7:00 p.m. The IC's men's lacrosse team will open the day on Wednesday when they welcome top-ranked RIT at 4:00 p.m. Make plans to come out to Higgins Stadium to catch the top-flight lacrosse action this Wednesday.