ITHACA, N.Y. – The 19^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team was back on home turf at Higgins Stadium on Tuesday afternoon when it jumped back into Liberty League action against University of Rochester. A strong second half buoyed the Bombers to a big victory over the Yellowjackets, as IC pulled away for an emphatic 22-9 win. The result improves Ithaca's record to 5-3 on the year and 2-0 within Liberty League play with IC set to move into the meat of its league slate in the coming weeks.
 
The rare Tuesday afternoon contest brought with it a bit of a slow start; however, the Bombers began to find their rhythm on both ends midway through the opening half. Leading 10-7 at the break, Ithaca really took control with a dominant second half. IC outscored Rochester 12-to-2 over the final 30-minutes to pull away. Ithaca locked in a running clock with a 10-goal margin with 14:53 to play and never looked back in the runaway win.
 
Powering IC's dominance in possession was excellent work on the draw. Ithaca held a decisive 23-to-10 edge on the draw, which led to advantages of 45-to-22 in shot attempts and 32-to-17 in shots on goal. The Bombers also held a 7-to-4 edge in free-position opportunities and went 16-for-18 in clears compared to just a 12-for-20 success rate for Rochester.
 
The Bombers had seven players register multi-point games on the afternoon. Junior attacker Bailer Herr paced the group, adding another huge outing in what has been a season full of them for the third-year talent. Herr finished the day with a career-high nine points, scoring four goals and chipping in five assists. She also added two caused turnovers and a game-high five ground-balls.
 
Senior captain Allie Panara also continued her upward trajectory in recent games. She registered her third consecutive multi-point effort in a row, amassing six points for the second time in three contests. She finished the day with two goals and four assists, as well as seven draw controls. Fellow senior Elizabeth Rice scored multiple goals for a sixth straight contest, posting a season-best five that included a perfect 3-for-3 in free-position opportunities. Sophomore midfielder Jacqui Hallack also tied a season-high with four goals, her second time during the past three games she has hit that mark. Senior attacker Danika Wagener marked her fourth consecutive multi-point outing, finishing with three points on two goals and one assist. Senior midfielder Erin McGee and sophomore attacker Madison Boutureira each scored twice – with Boutureira's tallies her first two of the 2019 season. Sophomore midfielder Megan Motkowski chipped in one goal and six draw controls for IC in the game.
 
Defensively, four Ithaca players recorded two caused turnovers games. Senior Reid Simoncini continued her big final season as one of those players, while she also amassed a season-high 10 draw controls. Sophomore Molly Nodiff and Samantha Marsh joined Herr as the other players to hit that aforementioned mark. Nodiff added two ground-balls, while Marsh finished the day with one grounder. Sophomores Samantha Rabb and Caroline Grant each added one caused turnover and one ground-ball in the game.
 
In goal, sophomore Mackenzie Schade had perhaps her most confident outing of the year to-date. She made eight saves, recording four in each half. Several of her stops were quite sharp, while she was nearly unbeatable in the second half, conceding just twice to pave the way for Ithaca to pull away.
 
Rochester came off the opening draw with the early momentum, as Ithaca took a little while to rev the engines during the early going. Jamison Seabury did the heavy lifting for the Yellowjackets as a one-woman wrecking crew through the IC defense. She scored three times in the opening 7:23 of the game, while Marina Kern added a score to give the visitors an early 4-2 lead.
 
Ithaca responded with two goals over a 46-second span to pull level. It was the initial spark of a greater 8-3 surge to close out the opening half. Wagener fed Rice for a goal from the slot, while Herr scored her first of the day on a central free-position. Although Rochester answered the two quick strikes with a tiebreaking free-position strike from Kendra Jones, the Bombers kept on rolling with six of the next seven goals during the middle portion of the half.
 
Panara sparked the next IC run when she fed Wagener at the right side of the attacking fan with the latter turning and whipping a top-shelf shot into the cage. Less than a minute later Ithaca took its first lead of the day with 15:32 left in the half, as Rice scored again on a free-position chance. Schade kept the momentum when she denied Kendra Jones on a free-position less than 40-seconds after Rice's go-ahead goal. IC converted on the ensuing offensive possession, as Herr fed Wagener streaking across the slot to push Ithaca ahead by a 7-5 margin.
 
Another three-goal run over a 2:12 span with under eight minutes remaining in the half gave Ithaca its first true separation. Hallack and Herr accounted for the scoring with the sophomore mid striking once from the run of play and also converting on a free-position. Hallack's goals sandwiched a scoring strike from Herr on a nice play in close quarters in front of the crease. Rochester would claw one-goal back on a goal from Maggie McKenna, but IC took a 10-7 edge to halftime.
 
The second half was all about the Bombers. The home side scored three times in first 5:28 to break things open. Panara set up two of the goals, feeding both Herr and Rice for goals, while Herr added a fourth on the day during the run. Minutes later McGee sparked a four-goal IC run with a pair of back-to-back strikes in the span of two-minutes, while Hallack and Panara each added a goal of their own.
 
Rice's free-position tally locked in the running clock with 14:53 remaining. Boutureira went on to add a pair of goals down the stretch, while Hallack capped the scoring from the free-position with 2:17 remaining.
 
Ithaca will be back in action on Saturday, March 30, when it hits the road to face Union in a noon start.