GENEVA, N.Y. – The No. 19 Ithaca College women's lacrosse had revenge on its mind when it returned to the turf at William Smith's Boswell Field for the 2018 Liberty League Championship against the tournament-host Herons. Much like the first meeting between the top two teams in the Liberty League this season, it was a second-half rally that made all the difference. William Smith outscored the Bombers 7-to-4 over the final 30-minutes to pull away for a 15-10 victory to earn the League's automatic qualifier.
 
With the loss, Ithaca falls to 14-5 on the year and will turn to tonight's NCAA Tournament selection show to find out its postseason fate. The Bombers were not included in the latest installment of the regional rankings, which plays a big factor in the selection committee's criteria for building out its tournament bracket. The show is set to air this evening at 10:00 p.m.
 
Trailing 8-6 at the break, it was Ithaca that actually looked like the team to beat in the opening moments of the second stanza. The Bombers started the second half with a surge, evaporating a two-goal deficit at the half with three quick strikes in the opening 5:24 to take their first lead of the game at 9-8. With William Smith's Rachel Yackel and Ellie Burns on the sidelines with back-to-back yellow cards just 55-seconds apart, IC got to work in the attacking third.
 
Freshman midfielder Jacqui Hallack sparked the initial IC run in the second session when she rifled a free-position from straight-on to cut the deficit to 8-7 with 27:04 left in the game. Sophomore attacker Bailey Herr brought IC back onto level terms shortly after when she sent home her fifth goal of the afternoon at 25:36. The run was capped by sophomore midfielder Katie Welch 58-seconds later when she charged down the left wing, before whipping home a sharp-angle shot to lift IC to its first and only lead at 9-8 with 24:38 left to play.
 
The final 24-minutes proved to be the difference in today's contest, as a seven-goal run by William Smith elevated the home side back into the lead and out of striking distance of a late IC comeback. Although junior attacker Elizabeth Rice finally snapped the lengthy William Smith run with a goal, only 14.9 seconds remained in the game. William Smith won the ensuing draw and ran out the remaining clock to take the victory.
 
It was the draw control that made a big difference, as the Herons held an 8-to-4 advantage in that category in the second half. A concerted effort to score off the rush combined with the Herons turning to a strategy of more high bounce shots paid dividends, as IC struggled to find defensive stops. Senior keeper Kimberly Presuto did her best to keep things close, making seven of her 11 stops in the second session, William Smith keeper Jules Kennedy was rock-solid with six of her nine stops coming after the half. She denied IC on several strong scoring chances over the final 20-minutes to allow the Herons to pull away.
 
The first half was the Bailer Herr show for Ithaca, as she scored four of the Bombers six goals during the opening half. Her first score tied the game at 1-1 5:26 into the game when she converted on a free-position chance. Just over seven minutes later she re-tied the game at 2-2, converting in the slot off a great pass by junior attacker Allie Panara. The sophomore attacker notched her hat trick with 11:04 left in the half, finishing off a great tic-tac-toe passing play from Panara to Rice to Herr.
 
Ithaca closed the deficit to just a single goal with a two-goal run with just over two-minutes remaining in the opening half. The scoring surge came over just a 16-second span. On the first, Panara picked out Herr cutting from left-to-right across the face of goal. She did well to control the feed with a defender right on her in coverage, but was able to whip an off-balanced shot that eluded Kennedy. Hallack followed with a free-position goal setup by a Panara draw control win. However, William Smith scored a late goal with 53-seconds remaining in the frame by Sarah Benyo to take the 8-6 lead to halftime.
 
Leading the way for Ithaca offensively was Herr, who finished with a game-high five goals. The big game brought her season total to 46 on the year, an impressive 24-goal improvement over her freshman campaign.
 
Hallack and Welch each finished with two goals apiece, while Rice rounded out the IC scoring with two points on one goal and one assist. Panara had two helpers to bring her career total to 99.
 
Defensively, senior Elizabeth Sauer had a solid day on the stat sheet with three caused turnovers to pace the squad. Senior Molly Long added one caused turnover and one ground-ball, while junior Reid Simoncini posted one caused turnover, two ground-balls, and a team-best six draw controls. Junior midfielder Erin McGee accounted for the Bombers other caused turnover on the day.
 
As mentioned earlier, Presuto finished with 11 saves and three ground-balls on the afternoon. Her record in goal falling to 14-5 on the year.
 
Stay tuned to the IC athletics website and social media accounts, which will have you covered for tonight's selection show.