LEXINGTON, Va. – The 20^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team got the ball rolling on the 2019 NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon when it took on USA South Champion Meredith College in the Opening Round from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. The Bombers extended their 2019 season another day, besting the Avenging Angels 13-10 behind a masterful defensive effort against one of the nation's top scoring offenses. The win sends Ithaca to tomorrow's NCAA Second Round contest against the second-ranked Generals, who was idle awaiting today's winner.
 
Ithaca entered today knowing that it had quite a task on its hand in the opening round battle against Meredith. The Avenging Angles entered the weekend riding a lengthy winning streak, as the program from Raleigh, North Caroline, ran roughshod through the USA South Conference to capture the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for a sixth consecutive season. Boasting a scoring offense that ranked second in the nation heading into play on Saturday, the Bombers had to be on top of their game on both ends of field. Consistent rain, heavy at times, further complicated matters with both teams adjusting to the natural-grass surface at Washington & Lee's Watt Field. Although play was sloppy at times, the Bombers turned in one of their best defensive performances of the season, limiting Meredith to just 10 goals, nine under its season average, to secure the win. It was Ithaca's fourth all-time NCAA Tournament win, while it has the Bombers into the Second Round for the third time in head coach Karrie Moore's four-year tenure at the helm of the program.
 
Offensively, it was a banner day for Ithaca sophomore midfielder Jacqui Hallack. Fresh off the announcement that she was named an All-Liberty League First Team selection in the midfield for the second straight season earlier this week, the second-year talent showcased every bit of her dynamic attacking potential in the win. She tallied a game-high five points on four goals and one assist in the win.
 
Four other IC attackers registered multi-point outings to back Hallack's big day. Senior attacker Elizabeth Rice finished with four points on two goals and two assists, moving within one goal of cracking the program's Top-10 list for career scores. Senior Danika Wagener and junior Bailey Herr each posted three-point afternoons with two goals and one assist apiece. The outing brings her within five points of becoming the program's first 100-point scorer in a single season. Senior attacker Allie Panara rounded out IC's multi-point getters with one goal and one assist.
 
Also cracking the score sheet for IC were sophomores Madison Boutureira and Caroline Grant, as well as senior midfielder Erin McGee. Boutureira and McGee each finished with one goal apiece, while Grant posted one assist.
 
Defensively, it was a phenomenal effort for IC. Ithaca forced Meredith's dynamic attack into 22 turnovers, 14 of which were caused which tied for the second most in a game this season for the Bombers. Leading the way was senior Reid Simoncini, who delivered a game-high five caused turnovers and chipped in two ground-balls in the win. Junior Becky Mehorter and sophomore Caroline Paquin each finished with two caused turnovers, while sophomore Molly Nodiff registered one caused turnover and seven ground-balls. Adding caused turnovers on the afternoon were sophomore Megan Motkowski, as well as Hallack and Wagener.
 
In goal, sophomore keeper Mackenzie Schade delivered one of her sharpest outings of the season. She tallied eight saves on Meredith's high-powered attack, limiting the Avenging Angels to a 10-goal total, that was tied for the second lowest scoring mark for Meredith this season. She came up large on a couple key defensive sequences for the Bombers in the second half to highlight her stellar performance.
 
It was a dream start for the Bombers in today's contest, as IC's quick-strike offense netted a lead just 11-seconds into the game. Hallack corralled the games opening draw and streaked into the attacking end, before feeding Wagener at the right side of the attacking fan. The senior had acres of space with the Avenging Angels a little asleep on the start and made Meredith pay with a top-shelf score to make it 1-0.
 
Meredith entered the contest ranked second in NCAA Division III and did not take long to showcase their own panache for scoring. The ensuing stretch featured some back-and-forth scoring with Olivia Higgs scoring on a long-range bounce shot for the Avenging Angels' first goal and two of the nation's top scorers Holly Hite and Lilia Cruz syncing up. The goals sandwiched a second score by Wagener in the early going.
 
IC secured its first sustained lead 9:29 into the game. The scoring play actually began on the opposite side of the field, as Schade stoned Higgs on another long-range bounce shot attempt and sparked a quick counter-attack for the Bombers. It was a familiar duo finishing off the go-ahead goal, as Panara hit Hallack on a nice roll play on the left side of the attacking fan. The sophomore midfielder turned and fired to put IC up 3-2. Just 16-seconds later, the Bombers earned their first two-goal advantage of the game when Herr powered to the cage and whipped a shot into the lower left corner to make it 4-2. Although Meredith would threaten several times, the Avenging Angels would never be able to pull back to level terms throughout the duration of the game.
 
The teams would again trade scores over a 3:08 sequence, resulting in Meredith closing the deficit to a 5-4 Ithaca lead with 16:15 remaining in the opening half. A subsequent 3-0 Ithaca scoring run gave the Bombers their first true separation of the day. On the first, Rice netted her second goal of the day, streaking down the left side of the attacking fan, before launching a shot from her off-side that bested Meredith's screened keepr Haley Whitfield to the lower right corner. Panara followed with a similar goal just under five-minutes later, weaving from the right-to-left across the eight-meter and sneaking a shot inside the left post. McGee capped the scoring run with 8:08 to go in the half, receiving a pin-point long-distance pass stretch pass from Grant and athletically turning and firing with a defender draped over her shoulder.
 
Merdith's Olivia Higgs snapped the Bombers' scoring run when she scored on the free-position with 4:37 to go in the half. However, Hallack responded with her second goal of the opening 30-minutes to again extend the advantage to four goals at 9-5. Again, it was an excellent save from Schade that sparked the transition sequence. The sophomore keeper stopped Olivia Higgs on a long-distance shot and quickly upped a breakout pass to Simoncini. The senior fed possession up to Hallack at midfield and the sophomore did the rest, using her blazing speed to slice through the retreating Meredith defense. The shot caught of good portion of Whitfield, but had just enough momentum to sneak past the keeper and crawl over the goal line.
 
Ithaca had a chance to further secure its position in the waning moments of the half, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity. After Holly Hite netted a goal with 1:42 left before halftime to close the deficit to 9-6, Meredith's Brittany Wartman was sent off for a yellow card, giving IC a player advantage that would span the final 1:14 of the opening half and the first 46-seconds of the second. Unfortunately, some sloppy play and a lost draw control to begin the second half eliminated Ithaca's opportunity to snatch back momentum and consequently gave Meredith an energy boost of its own.
 
Top scorers Holly Hite and Julie Capretti both scored in the opening 4:26 to begin the second half, closing Ithaca's four-goal lead to a single-goal margin at 9-8 with still plenty of time remaining.
 
It was the defense that would dig its heels in to stem the tide for IC. Several excellent defensive stands, as well as a pair of big saves from Schade kept the one-goal lead intact, allowing Ithaca's offense to get untracked for a second 3-0 scoring run in the game to break things open again. Overall, the Bombers backline held Meredith off the scoreboard for a stretch of 15:56 of game action in the second half.
 
It was Boutureira that reestablished the multi-goal lead for Ithaca with 22:35 left in regulation. With Meredith's Sarah Arbes serving a two-minute yellow card infraction, IC made good on the second opportunity a woman-up, with Herr feeding Boutureira in the slot for a big goal to put IC up 10-8. Under four-minutes later, Hallack racked up her third of the game again using that patented speed to gain time and space before snapping a laser into the bottom left corner. Herr capped the scoring run after an IC timeout with just over 12-minutes to go. She made a nice reception of a pass from junior Katie Welch and overpowered her marking defender to the middle of the attacking fan, before wiring a shot that eluded Whitfield to pushed the Ithaca advantage back to four goals at 12-8 with 11:46 to play.
 
Meredith would never truly threaten again for the duration of regulation. IC's defense hung tough and the offense slowed the tempo to bleed clock, as conditions began to deteriorate towards the end of regulation. Hallack put the finishing touches on the game with her fourth goal of the day with 4:38 remaining.
 
Ithaca will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when the Bombers face second-ranked Washington & Lee. Scheduled start time is set for 1:00 p.m., but location is subject to change if field conditions are unplayable. The backup location will be Washington & Lee's Wilson Stadium, which is a synthetic surface located adjacent to Watt Field. Stay tuned for more information tomorrow morning.