ITHACA, N.Y. – The 19^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team kept right on chugging through its Liberty League slate when the Bombers returned to the home turf at Higgins Stadium for a clash against St. Lawrence on Friday afternoon. IC remained perfect in league play on the backs of another prolific second half, pulling away for a 19-8 victory. The win improves the team's record to 7-3 on the year and 4-0 in Liberty League action.
 
The Bombers have made a habit of posting big second-half performances over the past 10 days and that trend certainly continued on this cool and damp afternoon on South Hill. In the past two league contests against Rochester and Union, the Bombers have outscored their opponents by a combined 20-to-3 margin in the second half of those respective games. Ithaca extended that record of dominance after halftime, out-pacing St. Lawrence 14-to-5 in the goal column over the final 30-minutes of regulation. The performance blew open a narrow 5-3 lead at the break, allowing Ithaca to lock-in a running clock over much of the final 10-minutes.
 
Ithaca's dynamic attack was at it again on Friday. The Bombers had 12 players record at least one point on the day, while seven of those performances were multi-point efforts. Once-again it was junior attacker Bailey Herr that paced IC in terms of point totals, as she racked up a team-high five on the afternoon. She scored twice and dished out three assists to bring her season total to 48 points on 26 goals and 22 assists. Senior attacker Elizabeth Rice and junior midfielder Jacqui Hallack tied for the team lead in goal total, each player finding the back of the net four times in the win.
 
Also chipping in multi-point games were seniors Allie Panara and Danika Wagener, as well as sophomores Megan Motkowski and Madison Boutureira. The second-year duo each tallied two goals apiece in the victory. Wagener stretched her multi-point streak to six straight contests in registering one goal and one assist. Panara chipped in three assists to bring her career total to 120, just one shy of tying Becky Bedard '09 for the program's all-time career record in the statistic.
 
Also posting points on the day were: senior mid Erin McGee, sophomore mid Caroline Grant, sophomore attacker Alexa Ritchie, sophomore mid Alex Rabb, and senior defender Reid Simoncini. McGee, Grant, Ritchie and Simoncini each posted goals with the latter two netting their first goals of the season, respectively. Rabb's point was on an assist.
 
Defensively, the Bombers forced nine caused turnovers on the afternoon. Sophomore Molly Nodiff led the group with two caused turnovers and one ground-ball. Juniors Becky Mehorter and Katie Welch, as well as sophomore Caroline Paquin also recorded one each. Hallack, Motkowski, Rice and Herr each posted one caused turnover as well.
 
In goal, sophomore keeper Mackenzie Schade delivered a third straight performance limiting the opponent to single-digit scores. She racked up nine saves and conceded just eight times in improving her record to 7-3 on the year. Notably, Schade has looked much more confident and assertive in the cage as the season has grown, a big development for the incoming stretch run.
 
The first half of today's game featured some sloppy play by both sides. The Bombers and Saints combined for 25 turnovers during the opening 30-minutes of play. Coupled with some strong play from both keepers, each of whom tallied five saves in the half, scoring was limited to a modest five for IC and three for St. Lawrence through halftime.
 
Ithaca took a lead it would not relinquish over the final 9:13 of the first half. With Ithaca's offense floundering to sustain consistent offensive looks, head coach Karrie Moore inserted Boutureira into the lineup to shake things up. The sophomore made an immediate impact, finishing off a beautiful passing play with Wagener on a transition play to bring the score to level terms at 3-3. The Bombers pulled ahead 41-seconds later when Motkowski capitalized on the free-position. Ithaca capped the scoring in the half with 2:36 left, as Panara picked out her with a nice pass to the right post and Herr quickly turned and fired into the bottom left of the cage.
 
The second half was played much cleaner, featuring just five total turnovers between the two teams. Playing a big impact was IC's complete dominance on the draw, which led to the home side controlling the majority of possession during the final 30-minutes. Overall, Ithaca held a 24-to-5 advantage in the statistic, which included a career-high 12 draw controls for Panera, as well as six from Simoncini and four for Motkowski.
 
Hallack sparked Ithaca's big second half with three quick-strike goals in the first 4:44 of the second half. The lead stretched to eight goals less than a minute after the third of Hallack's goals. Rice scored twice from the free-position, while McGee scored on a one-timer pop-shot from the slot off a great feed from Herr to extend the lead to 11-3 with 23:36 remaining.
 
The Saints closed the gap as close as six two times during an ensuing stretch. Alexandra LaMotte scored two goals for St. Lawrence during the stretch, which briefly kept the visitors within striking distance.
 
Ithaca blew things open with a five-goal run to lock in the running clock for the first time on the day. Rice and Motkowski scored goals in quick succession, while Simoncini won the ensuing draw and labeled a laser top shelf to cap a three-goal surge in just a 38-second span for the three goals. Boutureira and Grant both finished off feeds from Herr 1:25 apart to lock in the running clock for the first time with 10:45 remaining. The 5-0 run stretched Ithaca's lead to 17-6.
 
Although St. Lawrence erased the running clock with goals by Emma Owens and a free-position strike from Alexandra LaMotte, Ithaca scored the final two goals of the day to again extend the margin to double-digits in the waning minutes. Hallack scored her fourth of the half off a great feed from Rabb with 2:26 to play, while Ritchie capped the scoring with her first of the season with 1:11 remaining.
 
Ithaca will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when Clarkson comes to Higgins Stadium for a 2:00 p.m. start.