Postgame Press Conference
 
MEDFORD, Mass. – The 15^th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse took the next step in its postseason journey on Saturday when it traveled to Medford, Mass., to face NESCAC Champion and sixth-ranked Tufts in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament. Sadly, for the second time over the past three seasons, the Bombers had their season concluded by the Jumbos, as IC came up on the short end of back-and-forth 18-11 contest. With the loss, Ithaca finishes the year with a 16-4.
 
It was a first-quarter scoring run by Tufts that accounted for all the difference in Saturday's contest. With the teams tied at 2-2 deep into the opening frame, Tufts scored five times over the final 4:33 of the quarter to break things open. The scoring stretch extended to a 7-0 run with the first two goals of the second quarter to widen the margin to 9-2 midway through the frame.
 
The Bombers showed their grit and resiliency to hang tough throughout the game. Ithaca hung even with Tufts in almost all statistical categories, at one point closing the deficit within four goals at 13-9 early in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the deficit was too wide to span. A four-goal run by the Jumbos responding to IC's ninth goal solidified the advantage for the home side in the 18-11 contest.
 
Ithaca's attack was paced by freshman attacker Connor Brumfield, who continued to establish himself as one of the up-and-coming young attacking threats in the country on the national stage. He followed up his career-best seven-point effort over Stevenson on Wednesday with a four-goal outing against the Jumbos on Saturday. The performance brought the rookie's goal total to 40 and his point total to 56 in his freshman campaign, surpassing the totals of IC's last Rookie of the Year honoree in John Januszkiewicz '17 who posted 39 goals and 52 points during the 2014 season.
 
Two other IC players registered multi-goal games on the day in senior attacker Jake Cotton and sophomore attacker Dan Lee. Cotton finished with three points, scoring two goals and adding one assist. Lee posted his second consecutive two-goal outing and fourth overall this season. Cotton concludes his impressive IC career with 240 points on 107 goals and 133 assists, ranking third all-time in points and first in assists in program history.
 
Senior attacker Greg Drillock also concluded his collegiate career on a solid note. He posted a multi-point effort, finishing with one goal and one assist. The effort extended his goal streak to four consecutive outings and his point-scoring streak to eight straight games to conclude the year. Adding goals on the day were seniors Stephen Morrell and Kaelan Fitzpatrick who each tallied one in the game to round out the IC scoring. Also posting points on the day were seniors Keith Morrissey and Steven Landspurg, each player collecting one assist.
 
Defensively, the Bombers finished with eight caused turnovers on the day. Sophomore defenseman Aaron McCartney led the Bombers with two caused turnovers and four ground-balls. Fifth-year defenseman Winston Wenham added one caused turnover and one ground-ball, while junior long-stick midfielder added one caused turnover and five ground-balls. Junior short-stick midfielder Brendan King added one caused turnover and two ground-balls. Lee, Landspurg and freshman Ryan Jacob added caused turnovers for IC.
 
In goal, sophomore Robby Atwood was quite busy throughout much of the day and hung tough against Tufts potent lineup. He finished with 11 saves in the loss.
 
Although a fairly steady rain persisted throughout much of the afternoon in the greater Boston area, the start of this game was far from sloppy as both teams began the game quite sharp. The Jumbos scored a goal less than a minute into the game, but IC waited little time in leveling the score. Kaelan Fitzpatrick leveled the score at 1-1 with 13:04 to play in the quarter, firing a laser from the right wing.
 
A few minutes later Matt Treiber put the hosts back ahead at 10:17, but again Ithaca took just over a minute to respond. Brumfield kicked off his big afternoon wrapping around the goal and sneaking a shot just inside left post to tie the game back at 2-2 with 9:14 remaining in the quarter.
 
The turning point in the game just over the midway point of the quarter. Ithaca received a huge opportunity to take its first lead of the game when Tufts' Brian Powers and Zach Lesko were both whistled for penalties on the same sequence, giving IC a two-man advantage for 60-seconds. Unfortunately, Ithaca was unable to cash in on the chance, as Tufts' keeper Mason Pollack came up with two saves on Morrell and Drillock, respectively. Shortly after the expiration of the penalties, the Jumbos pulled back ahead for good when Andrew Seiter whipped a hard shot past Atwood to make the score 3-2 with 4:33 remaining.
 
The next man-up opportunity went to the hosts when Josh Della Puca was sent to the box for an non-releasable cross-checking penalty. The Jumbos tallied four times over the final 2:51 of the quarter to take a 7-2 advantage out of the opening 15-minutes. The deficit proceeded to extend to 9-2 for the Bombers when Danny Murphy scored with 11:12 left in the second and Ben Connelly followed with his second man-up score of the day at 7:13 of the frame.
 
Ithaca began its comeback fight late in the second quarter when it sparked a little run that brought the visitors into halftime on a bit of a momentum surge. The Bombers scored three times in the final 3:32 of the quarter to head into the break trailining 10-5.
 
The first goal was a snipe from Jake Cotton in transition. It was the IC defense that sparked the play, as Ithaca forced a turnover in the defensive third and Keith Morrissey quickly launched the team into transition. He quick upped a pass to Landspurg, who sprinted centrally into the attacking zone, before dishing a pass to a wide-open Cotton on right wing. The senior fired a howitzer into the twine to snap the Tufts seven-goal run.
 
Although Tufts added on a goal to briefly stem the IC rally, Brumfield punched back less than a minute later with his second of the day. That goal was the result of a great passing play by the Bombers. Drillock started the play by making a deft move down the right wing to shake his defender and move behind the cage. He fired a pass back over the goal to Cotton at the center point who then passed quickly to Brumfield on the left wing. The rookie fired a low shot that bested Pollack five-hole to make the score 10-4 with 1:10 left in the half.
 
In Wednesday's victory over Stevenson, the Bombers benefitted from a big goal late in the first half when Cotton scored with 0.6-seconds on the clock. IC followed a similar script on Saturday, this time firing home a goal with 14-seconds remaining to halve the deficit at 10-5. This one was also a transition goal, as Atwood make a big save and quickly launched a counter. Morrissey plowed forward with possession and at the last minute dished to Dan Lee, who fired into an open cage.
 
Unfortunately, the half could not have come at a worse time for IC, as the team was beginning to find a rhythm in the contest. Tufts reestablished the seven-goal lead early in the third quarter with goals on back-to-back possession just over two-minutes into the frame. Ithaca finally got off the mark at the 5:10 mark of the third when Brumfield tallied his hat trick to make the score 12-6. This one was a nice individual effort by the freshman, as he wrapped behind the cage moving left-to-right, before whipping a shot in at the right post. Brumfield closed out the third quarter with a goal with 1:23 left.
 
The teams traded scores during the opening moments of the fourth quarter. Tufts' Nick Shanks scored with 14:16 left to put the Jumbos up 13-7, but IC responded with back-to-back scores in quick succession to close the margin to its closest point since the final minutes of the first quarter. Drillock scored his goal at 13:49, while Seaberg won the ensuing possession. Just 31-seconds after the Drillock goal, Lee sent home his second, picking up the high missed shot of Fitzpatrick and moving into shooting position, before lighting the lamp for the second time on the day.
 
Unfortunately, that was as close as Ithaca would come in the contest. Four consecutive scores for the home side over a 1:42 stretch opened the lead to its widest point of the day at 17-9. Although Morrell and Cotton went on to score two goals to close back within six goals with just over half of the quarter remaining, the deficit was too big to overcome.

Ithaca finished the game extremely even with Tufts in nearly every statistical category. Tufts held a slim 47-to-44 advantage in shot attempts in the game; however, Ithaca had the narrow 30-to-29 edge in shots on goal. Pollack was a difference maker for Tufts, finishing with 19 saves in the game. The Bombers also held the edge in the turnover battle, as the Jumbos committed 21, while IC finished with just 14. Ithaca also went 22-for-26 in clears compared to a 19-for-26 mark for the hosts. The difference were saves and man-up conversions, as Tufts won 22-of-32 faceoffs and scored five man-up goals on the day, while Ithaca came up empty on four man-up chances.