Highlights

ITHACA, N.Y. – The 19^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team opened up the Liberty League slate on Sunday afternoon, returning to Higgins Stadium for a big early-season matchup against red-hot Skidmore. On the strength of a strong second half, the Bombers slipped past the Thoroughbreds for a 14-11 victory to get off to a great start to their second Liberty League campaign. With the victory, Ithaca improves to 3-2 on the year and 1-0 in League action.
 
Today's contest had all the makings of a competitive contest coming into the day. The Bombers were motivated to shake off a defeat to top-ranked in Gettysburg, while the Thoroughbreds were coming off a fantastic trip to Florida that featured wins over Westfield State and 20^th-ranked Haverford. The contest certainly lived up to the billing, as both sides battled back-and-forth throughout much of the afternoon. Ultimately, it was a strong second half that paved the way for the IC victory, as Ithaca outscored Skidmore 7-to-4 after halftime.
 
It was truly a tale of two halves for sophomore keeper Mackenzie Schade, who improved to 3-2 as a starter this season. Schade has battled through an extremely difficult stretch of opponents, facing some dynamic attacks that can shake the confidence of even the most seasoned keepers let-alone a first-year starter. Those jitters seemed to crop up in the first-half, as Schade was bested for seven goals and made just one stop during the opening 30-minutes. However, Schade turned in perhaps her best performance of the season in the second half, making six saves and limiting Skidmore's high-flying attack to just four goals.
 
Offensively, Ithaca received multi-point contributions from five players. The group was paced by a pair of four-point efforts from sophomore transfer Megan Motkowski and senior attacker Elizabeth Rice. Motkowski kick started the IC offense with the first two goals of the afternoon, while she finished the day with three goals and one helper. Rice matched that output, turning in her third hat-trick performance of the year, while also chipping in her first assist of the season.
 
Adding multi-point efforts for IC were senior midfielder Erin McGee, senior attacker Danika Wagener, and junior attacker Bailey Herr. McGee tallied her third consecutive two-goal outing. Wagener posted one goal and one assist, while Herr added to her team-best total with three assists. Also chipping in single-point efforts for the day were six Bombers. Sophomore midfielders Jacqui Hallack, Indira Varma and Caroline Grant each scored one goal, while senior attackers Allie Panara and Maeve Cambria also scored once on the day. Junior midfielder Katie Welch also registered one point on an assist.
 
Defensively, Ithaca had six players tally at least one caused turnover on the day. Sophomore midfielder Rachel Rosenberg and junior defender Becky Mehorter led the team with two apiece, while Rosenberg also added one ground-ball. Senior Reid Simoncini keyed a much better day for the Bombers on the draw with seven controls, while she also added one caused turnover and two ground-balls. Motkowski, Hallack and Wagener each registered one caused turnover as well, while sophomore Molly Nodiff corralled three ground-balls to tie with Grant and Hallack for the team lead.
 
The Bombers got off to a blistering start to the day's action, showing no hangover effect from the defeat against top-ranked Gettysburg this past Thursday. Despite the frigid temperatures on South Hill on Sunday, the IC attack was red-hot in racing out to a 5-0 lead in the opening 10:13 of the game. Motkowski sparked the scoring run with back-to-back goals to begin the day. On the first, she cut right down the middle and wired a snap shot into the cage 1:03 into the game. The second goal was a passing play that IC has had much success with during the early part of the season. Rice feathered a slick feed to Motkowski from behind the cage to the net-front with the sophomore transfer depositing the pop shot with 27:48 left in the half. Hallack extended the lead to 3-0 30-seconds after Motkowski's second, scoring on the run down the right flank of the attacking fan. Grant scored her first of the season just under eight minutes into the game, while Wagener capped the 5-0 run with 19:48 left in the half when she finished off a feed from Welch with a nice spin move in front of cage.
 
What initially looked like a runaway became close as the half continued. Skidmore began to find some success in the attacking zone, running the majority of the play through Cas Szwajkowski. The Bombers could not find an answer for the dangerous Thoroughbred attacker, as she deposited three goals past Schade in a span of 2:24 to bring the visitors back within striking distance at the midway point of the half. Three more Skidmore scores sandwiched McGee's first goal of two on the day, bringing the visitors into a 6-6 tie with less than 10-minutes remaining in the half.
 
Rice put IC back ahead with 3:07 in the half. Herr received the assist on the play, hitting Rice with a perfect pass as she cut unmarked through the attacking fan. She bested Skidmore keeper Caroline Kenlon with a low shot into the bottom left of the cage. The lead did not last into the break, as Skidmore's Amanda Orvis would tally an unassisted equalizer to send both teams to the break tied at 7-7. Kenlon was the difference in the half for the visitors, as she registered 10 saves compared to just one from Schade in the first 30-minutes.
 
The resumption of the second half brought a new look for Schade who clearly looked refocused following the 10-minute intermission. She stood tall and made a big difference in the second session, which included a couple huge denials of Szwajkowski in the opening moments to keep things tied at 7-7. The two sides would trade a pair of scores just 23-seconds apart with Motkowski briefly putting IC back up 8-7 with her third goal of the afternoon, before Natalie LaBeau again brought Skidmore to level terms.
 
The Bombers took control of the contest over the ensuing stretch, stringing together a 4-1 scoring run to gain some breathing room. Rice started the run with 21:08 remaining, slotting home a shot from the right side of the fan off a great feed from Wagener. Panara followed with a goal on a player advantage opportunity after Kenlon was assessed a two-minute yellow card for a collision with Cambria. Although Skidmore would pull one back on a nice play by Zoe Rafalowski-Houseman, the Bombers would send home two more on a left-wing tally from Rice and a shifty wrap-around move by Maeva Cambria. The latter extended Ithaca's lead to 12-9 with a little more than 13-minutes to play.
 
Ithaca saw things out from there, as Schade came up with a couple more saves with McGee and Varma ensuring that the three-goal margin would remain over the final minutes.
 
IC will be back in action on Wednesday, March 20, when it plays host to a non-league battle against Brockport in the first game of a lacrosse doubleheader on Higgins Stadium. Start time for the women's contest is 4:00 p.m., while the IC men are set to face SUNY Oneonta at 7:00 p.m.