ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team got the postseason underway on Saturday afternoon when it played host to a Liberty League Quarterfinal Round game for the second consecutive season. Standing in Ithaca's way was a rematch against 19^th-ranked St. Lawrence in a much-anticipated fourth-seed, fifth-seed matchup. Sadly, the visiting Saints were able to avenge the regular-season defeat at the hands of the Bombers, pulling away in the third quarter for a 10-4 victory. The loss concludes Ithaca's season with a 9-6 record.
 
Saturday's contest was the first time in exactly a month that Ithaca got to play an official game on home turf at Higgins Stadium. Coincidentally, that last contest was against the very same foe in St. Lawrence. That day ended on an incredible high for the Bombers, as senior Owen Smith's double-overtime tally helped IC score its marquee win of the regular-season in a 12-11 thriller. Unfortunately, lightning did not strike twice, as St. Lawrence's defense stymied Ithaca's attack all afternoon. IC was limited to just one goal in each quarter in the contest.
 
Senior Josh Della Puca led Ithaca's offense in his final collegiate game donning the Ithaca jersey. He scored both of Ithaca's second-half tallies. Fellow senior Conner Crosson also notched two points on the day, assisting on both of Della Puca's scoring strikes. Sophomore midfielder Connor Till and sophomore attackman Connor Brumfield each scored a goal during the opening 30-minutes of play.
 
Defensively, Ithaca's corps on the back end held up well over the majority of the contest. The Bombers forced 13 caused turnovers in the game, headlined by a three caused turnover, four ground-ball effort from redshirt-junior Sean Seaberg. Sophomore defenseman Logan Adams, first-year defenseman Demetri Lowry and Till each posted two caused turnovers in the game. Sophomore defenseman Jake Hall-Goldman, sophomore faceoff specialist Matt Pagliaro, as well as junior Ryan Ozsvath and Della Puca each had one caused turnover in the contest.
 
In goal, first-year Connor Thornton closed out his debut season with a 15-save performance that was his second highest save output of the season. He finishes his rookie year with an 8-6 mark as the goalie of record. Junior Robby Atwood made two saves and conceded one goal in 1:22 of game action, coming into the game with Thornton serving a penalty late in the third quarter.
 
The opening half was very closely contested, as both defenses stole the show early. The game followed a very similar trend to the regular-season meeting with only six combined goals over the first 30-minutes of play.
 
St. Lawrence jumped out to the early 1-0 lead when Nick Brindisi picked out Mike Donnelly with a perfect pass into the slot. Donnelly wired a snap shot past Thornton to put the visitors up 1-0 3:21 into the game. However, Ithaca did not take long to respond, as Till lit the lamp for Ithaca 3:27 later to tie the game. Till's goal came off a nice reset from the left wing, as he bested his marking defender and cut left-to-right across the slot, before besting St. Lawrence's Alex Terry to the bottom left.
 
The Saints jumped back ahead with two goals in a 1:35 span to grab a lead that would ultimately hold up throughout the duration of regulation. Donnelly netted his second of the day with 5:22 remaining in the half, while Peter Koch lifted the visitors to a 3-1 lead on the ensuing St. Lawrence possession.
 
The second quarter remained tight checking with just one goal for each side. Connor Brumfield scored 2:34 into the frame to bring Ithaca back within a goal at 3-2, but the goal was washed out by a score from Jack Hennessey. The scoreline would be 4-2 in favor of St. Lawrence heading into the halftime break.
 
The contest flipped firmly in favor of the visitors during the third quarter. Donnelly, Hennessey and David Jennings scored goals in the first 6:10 of the quarter to break open the game at 7-2. Although Della Puca briefly snatched back momentum for the home side by syncing up with Crosson on a beautiful passing play with 6:38 to go in the frame, the Saints tacked on two more goals down the stretch of the quarter. Mahoney pushed the advantage to 8-2 with 3:34 to go, while Hennessey added his third goal of the day with seven-seconds remaining to really deal Ithaca a crushing blow heading into the final frame.
 
With things firmly in command, St. Lawrence slowed the pace down and really grinded out long offensive possessions during the fourth quarter. Della Puca scored his second of the day midway through the frame, but there just were not enough possessions left in the game for Ithaca to truly make a comeback. St. Lawrence continued to frustrate IC's attack, finishing the day with 17 caused turnovers to seal out the convincing win.