Box Score LEXINGTON, Va. – The 20^th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team continued its 2019 NCAA Tournament run on Sunday afternoon when the Bombers retook the field at Washington & Lee's Watt Field to take-on the second-ranked Generals in a Second Round matchup in the Lexington, Virginia Regional. Sadly, the Bombers were unable to keep pace with the nation's second-ranked team, falling behind by a big margin at halftime en route to a loss. The defeat closes the book on Ithaca's 2019 campaign with a record of 14-7, the program's fourth consecutive season reaching exactly 14 wins under head coach Karrie Moore.
 
Offensively, senior attacker Danika Wagener led the way with four points on three goals and one assist. Senior attacker Allie Panara and junior attacker Bailey Herr also chipped in multi-point games. Panara finished with one goal and two helpers bringing her program-record career totals to 272 career points and 146 career assists. Herr finished her program-record season with 97 points and will begin the 2020 campaign at the same 200-point mark that Panara sat at to begin this season. Herr is the eighth player in program history to reach the 200-point milestone.
 
Adding points for IC were sophomore midfielders Jacqui Hallack, Caroline Grant and Indira Varma, as well as junior Katie Welch. All four players finished the game with one goal.
 
Defensively, the Bombers were only able to force a season-low one caused turnover in the contest. Sophomore Caroline Paquin earned that forced miscue. Senior defender Reid Simoncini did cap her IC career with a game-high 10 draw controls, helping the Bombers to a 17-to-11 advantage in the statistic for the contest. Hallack and Panara each finished with three draws, while Wagener also corralled one.
 
In goal, sophomore Mackenzie Schade finished with three saves in 30-minutes of action. First-year Lilian Matz came in for the second half and also tallied three saves in a bright effort for the IC rookie.
 
It was a bright enough start for the Bombers who actually dominated the draw controls against a Washington & Lee outfit that was the nation's 15^th-ranked team in the statistic entering the weekend. Ithaca won seven of the game's first eight draw controls, but were only able to generate two goals over that early stretch of possession dominance. Once Washington & Lee got their legs in gear on the draw that advantage evaporated and with it IC's ability to keep things close in the opening half.
 
The Generals got on the board first when Cordelia Peters fed Haley Tucker in the slot for a goal to close out a protracted possession for W&L that lasted deep into the shot clock. However, Ithaca responded with two straight goals to jump out to a 2-1 lead with just under five-minutes into today's game. On Ithaca's second offensive possession, Danika Wagener fed Indira Varma in the slot with the sophomore slotting home an equalizer inside the right post. Just 1:48 later, Bailey Herr pushed IC back in front, corralling a nice pass from Allie Panara on top of the crease, before turning and firing past W&L keeper Eliot Gilbert.
 
Washington & Lee netted an equalizer with 22:49 to play in the half when Dani Murray slotted home another goal late in the shot clock. The goal tied things up 2-2, however, things were very much competitive with IC still enjoying the strong start on the draw.
 
The turning point in the opening half came on Ithaca's next offensive possession. Reid Simoncini controlled the draw following the Murray equalizer and Ithaca set up shop in the offensive zone. It appeared that Danika Wagener had put the Bombers back ahead 3-2 when she looped from behind the cage to the net front, before whipping a shot into the upper left corner. Unfortunately, the official whistled IC's senior attacker for a dangerous follow-through, taking the apparent goal off the board and sending IC down a player for a yellow card for the next two minutes.
 
The Generals used the big momentum swing to launch a furious finish to the half. Landon Shelley and Dani Murray synced up on the Generals next offensive possession to score a woman-up tally with 21:02 left in the opening half. It was all downhill from there for the Bombers. The remainder of the half did not feature many bright spots, as the Generals began to even out IC's stranglehold on the draw control, while Aburn did well to deny Ithaca on its few chances to score.
 
In total, the Generals closed out the half on a 14-0 scoring run, locking in a running clock for 10-goal margin with 6:35 remaining in the half. The run featured multiple goals by Dani Murray, Maddy Graves, Haley Tucker, Cordelia Peters, while Claire Fulton and Katherine Faria added one goal each for the hosts. The stretch of futility all but sealed Ithaca's fate, as W&L took a 15-2 advantage to the intermission.
 
Despite trailing by a baker's dozen, Ithaca fought to the final whistle and turned in a second half to be proud of in closing out its successful 2019 campaign. The Bombers outscored the Generals 7-to-3 in the final 30-minutes and held their heads high against the nation's best.
 
Wagener highlighted Ithaca's host of goal scorers with three goals in the second half to close out her IC career on a hat-trick performance. Caroline Grant, Jacqui Hallack, Katie Welch and Allie Panara each netted one goal, while Herr picked up her program-record 97^th point on an assist on that Grant score. Wagener's final goal closed the final margin under 10-goals, stopping the clock with 41.9-seconds remaining.
 
Defensively, Ithaca also enjoyed an encouraging performance from Ithaca's rookie keeper Lilian Matz. The first-year made three stops and conceded just three times, coming in to relieve Schade at halftime with the Bombers looking for a spark.
 
For Ithaca, seniors: Reid Simoncini, Allie Panara, Erin McGee, Kaylou Stoddard, Elizabeth Rice, Danika Wagener, and Maeve Cambria all are set to graduate. The Bombers still return and excellent platform of talent to move forward in the 2020 season.
 
Stay tuned to the IC Athletics Website for more information as IWLCA All-Region selections, as well as CoSIDA Academic Honors are set to be released in the coming weeks.