ITHACA, N.Y. – The 21^st-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team found out its Semifinal Round opponent on Tuesday evening when third-seeded Clarkson overcame a five-goal deficit to score a dramatic 13-11 comeback win over RPI to punch its ticket to Saturday in Geneva, N.Y. The Bombers will face the Golden Knights in the second of two semifinal contests on the day with an anticipated start time set for 2:30 p.m. at host William Smith College. Ithaca earned a bye through the Quarterfinal Round by virtue of its second-place finish during the regular-season.
 
Semifinal Round – Saturday, May 4
Game 1: #1 William Smith (15-2, 10-0 LL) vs. #4 Skidmore (12-5, 7-3 LL) – 11:30 a.m.
Game 2: #2 Ithaca (12-5, 8-2 LL) vs. #3 Clarkson (12-6, 7-3 LL) – 2:30 p.m.
 
Championship Game – Sunday, May 5
Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 – 1:00 p.m.
 
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Last Time Out
The IC women put together an emphatic finish to the regular season with an impressive victory over RIT on Saturday, April 27. The Bombers entered the day controlling its own destiny for a potential bye through the Quarterfinal Round of the upcoming Liberty League Tournament, needing to secure just a victory to ensure an outright second-place finish. IC easily accomplished that, putting together one of its most dominant performances in a 19-6 victory over the Tigers to finish the regular season with an 8-2 Liberty League mark.
 
Making History
Senior attacker Allie Panara was at her best in the contest, finishing with a season-high seven points on three goals and four assists. The performance helped her move all alone into first-place on the program's all-time point list. Panara entered the day tied with former teammate Ally Runyon '17 for the top spot with 252 career points. It did not take her long to secure the historic point, dishing out an early assist to pull ahead of Runyon for the top spot. It was the second record she has set this season, as she passed Tracy Rivas '14 for first-place on the program's career assist leaderboard earlier this season.
 
Regular-Season Meeting vs. Clarkson
The first meeting between these two sides certainly did not lack for scoring. The two sides put together a fireworks display of offense in the regular-season meeting back on April 6 at Higgins Stadium. Ithaca scored a season-high 24 goals in the contest, while Clarkson recorded 16 goals of its own in the wild contest. IC's 24-goal output was the most since a win over Alfred during the 2017 campaign, while the 40 combined goals ranked as the most ever recorded in an Ithaca women's lacrosse game. Panara set the all-time assist record in the meeting against the Golden Knights, while seven different IC players recorded multi-point outings in the game.
 
It's Getting Hot in Herr
Junior attacker Bailey Herr has been the driver of Ithaca's prolific attack throughout the 2019 season. She enters the day ranked first on the team and second in the Liberty League in terms of scoring and has a chance of surpassing Panara's single-season record for points. Herr has 80 points on 45 goals and 35 assists and is coming off her most prolific outing of the season in the win over RIT last Saturday. She factored in on the scoring in 11 of the 19 goals in the contest, posting seven goals and four assists on the afternoon. The outing helped her surpass her previous career best for points in a season (72; 2018), while she sits just 12 points behind Panara's record mark of 92 also recorded last spring. Panara has registered at least one point in every contest this season and has recorded five-plus points in 10 of those contests.
 
Rice Rakes In Goals
Like many of her teammates, senior attacker Elizabeth Rice also put together her best performances of the season during the final stretch of the regular season. She is on quite a roll over her past five contests entering this weekend, racking up 23 goals and three assists over that stretch. For the season, she paces the team with 52 goals and is 12 goals from breaking into the Ithaca's Top-10 list for career scores. She currently sits at 124 career goals.
 
Schade's Strong Finish
Sophomore goalie Mackenzie Schade has flashed some ups and downs in her first season as the full-time starter. She enters the Liberty League Tournament coming off one of her best performances of the season in the win over RIT last weekend. She totaled eight saves in the contest, posting a .571 save percentage in the game that ranked as the highest Schade has recorded in a single-game dating back to a .667 mark during the season-opening win against Nazareth. She will look to build on that performance against a Clarkson team that gave the Bombers some troubles in the defensive end during the regular season meeting.
 
12 Draws
The draw control is one of the most crucial aspects of Ithaca's game and is also the most volatile. IC ranks second in the Liberty League coming into the weekend with 254 total draw controls in 17 contests this season. The key numbers seems to be 12 wins for the Bombers. Ithaca is 9-1 when winning 12-plus draws in the contest, compared to just a 3-4 mark when finishing below that number in a game. Senior defender Reid Simoncini and senior attacker Allie Panara figure to play a major role in Ithaca's fortunes in that regard. Simoncini leads the Liberty League with 102 draw controls on the year, while Panara ranks seventh with 67. Sophomore midfielder Jacqui Hallack is also a development to watch on the draw this weekend, as she is coming off a season-best seven draw controls in the win over RIT. Between Simoncini and Hallack, IC may boast the fastest draw combination in the Liberty League and could utilize that advantage to secure much needed offensive possessions.
 
Looking Ahead
If Ithaca should get past Clarkson on Saturday, the Bombers will face the winner of the day's opening matchup between fourth-seeded Skidmore and top-seeded William Smith. Ithaca met the Herons in last year's Championship Game, with William Smith overcoming a 9-8 deficit with 24-mintues to go to win 15-10.