ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team took a brief pit stop from the heart of its Liberty League schedule on Wednesday afternoon, traveling to old Empire 8 rival Nazareth College for a midseason non-league battle. Ithaca kept its winning streak alive in another hard-fought victory, stretching the run to three straight games with a 16-10 victory Nazareth's turf complex. The victory improves IC's record to 7-2 on the season.
 
Nothing comes easy in a rivalry game and that fact manifested on Wednesday. Although Nazareth entered the game reeling with just a 3-7 record on the season, the Golden Flyers turned in a phenomenal effort to erase a big early deficit, setting up a thrilling conclusion to today's game over the final 20-minutes of regulation. In the end, it was Ithaca that packed the final punch on this day. The Bombers outscored Nazareth 8-to-1 over the final 17:16 of regulation, spanning the final minutes of third and the fourth quarter, to pull away for the momentum-sustaining victory.
 
Senior midfielder Josh Della Puca was phenomenal in his return to the lineup on Wednesday. The preseason All-American registered a career high nine points, which included a career-best seven goals and two additional assists to lead all scorers. He was impactful throughout the day and especially down the stretch, factoring in on four of IC's final seven goals on the day. The huge effort brought his season total to 35 points (16G-19A), while it extended his streak of multi-point games in all seven of his appearances this season.
 
Backing Della Puca was a host of four other multi-point scorers on the afternoon. Sophomore Connor Brumfield delivered his best output since a nine-point outing in the season opening win over Lycoming on Wednesday. He posted six points on three goals and three assists, extending his active point streak to 11 straight games dating back to last season and three straight games tallying two-or-more. Junior attacker Ryan Ozsvath also kept his midseason surge going with a four-point afternoon. The third-year talent notched a hat trick for the fourth straight game and fifth time this season, while he added a lone helper. Sophomore Connor Till also hit the four-point mark with one goal and three assists, while senior midfielder Owen Smith chipped in two apples as well.
 
Senior midfielder Conner Crosson and first-year Jae Stuhlman rounded out the scoring on the afternoon. Each player tallied a single goal in the victory, both of which came during Ithaca's game-sealing run over the final 17-minutes.
 
Defensively, Ithaca forced 12 caused turnovers in the win. First-year Demetri Lowry and junior attacker Dan Lee paced the team with two forced miscues apiece. Others to add on caused turnover on the day were: Jake Hall-Goldman, Logan Adams, Sean Seaberg, Brendan King, Dillon Fitzpatrick, Matt Pagliaro, Stuhlman, and Brumfield.
 
Pagliaro had a solid day in the faceoff. He took all 29 of Ithaca's draws on the afternoon, winning slightly over half with a 15-for-29 mark.
 
In goal, first-year Connor Thornton improved his record to 7-2 as a starter. He finished the day with five saves.
 
Ithaca looked to have full control of the game entering the halftime break. A dominant second quarter, which saw the Bombers outscore the Golden Flyers 5-to-1 opened up the first true separation of the day. Della Puca and Ozsvath scored goals 59-seconds apart to open the frame, while Della Puca went on to add two more scoring tallies later in the quarter to further widen the IC advantage. Brumfield's goal with 2:10 remaining in the half stretched the IC advantage to 8-3, which would hold steady entering the break.
 
The Bombers lead stretched one-goal further early in the third quarter when Ozsvath took a Brumfield feed and wired a shot into the top corner to extend the advantage to 9-3. However, the Golden Flyers battled back with a huge run over a 6:26 span midway through the third quarter. Behind Jon Lippert's hat trick and two goals from Collin McElligott, Nazareth clawed all the way back to level terms at 9-9 with 4:16 remaining in the quarter.
 
With Ithaca grasping for anything to swing the momentum back in its favor, the team turned to its veterans to get the job done. Crosson scored a huge goal off a nice feed from Till to push IC back ahead at 10-9 with 2:16 left in the quarter. Brumfield followed with a back-breaking goal, capitalizing on a man-up opportunity with just nine-seconds remaining in the quarter to re-up the two-goal lead.
 
Nazareth never recovered when play got underway in the fourth. A four-goal run for the Bombers over a 3:25 span put things away down the stretch. Della Puca put the bookend on the stretch with goals at the 7:50 and 4:25 mark, while Brumfield and Stuhlman added scoring strikes during the run. Ozsvath capped the scoring on the day with his 22^nd goal of the season with 2:42 remaining.
 
Ithaca jumps back into Liberty League play this weekend when it travels to 20^th-ranked Union for another crucial contest in the chase for postseason positioning. Start time is set for 1:00 p.m.