MADISON, N.J. – The Ithaca College field hockey team was back in action for the second time in just over 24 hours on Saturday evening when it took on tournament-host Drew University in the second and final day of the Drew Fall Festival. One day after putting together a four-goal effort in a win over Cabrini, the IC attack stayed red-hot on Saturday. The Bombers rolled past the Rangers in a dominating 5-0 shutout to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
 
Entering the season, Ithaca knew that it had the makings of an exciting attacking group despite the graduation of some of its primary striker options from the previous campaign. Ithaca's youthful front line continued to capitalize on that promising start. The Bombers scored early and often under the lights on Saturday night to get off to a 2-0 start for the first time since the 2015 season.
 
Four different goal scorers found the cage on Saturday, while seven different IC student-athletes recorded points in the victory. Leading the way was sophomore striker Samantha Horowitz, who posted her first career multi-goal game. She scored the opening goal of the night, which stood up as the game-winner, while she put the exclamation point on IC's dominating evening with the final score of the five-goal barrage. Adding scoring strikes were junior Kristen Rafferty, sophomore transfer Morgan Mullen, and first-year Amberly Christiansen. Chipping in assists on the night were senior Kendall Keil, juniors Arleigh Rodgers and Rafferty, as well as sophomores Grace Ziehnert and Victoria Sestito.
 
In goal, senior Savanna Lenker picked up her first clean sheet of the season. Although sparsely tested throughout the evening, she was able to collect two saves during an excellent sequence while the contest was still relatively close in the second quarter. Lenker finished with three total stops on the night. First-year back Meghana Caron helped keep the shutout intact with a big defensive save in the second quarter.
 
It took only 27-seconds for the Bombers to grab the early leg up on Saturday. Taking control of possession off the opening whistle, Rafferty was able to get behind the defense on the right flank. She sent a cross pass through the goal mouth, which found the backdoor stick of Horowitz for the easy tap-in on the far left post.
 
Ithaca continued to maintain a big territorial advantage as the first quarter continued. The visitors were able to capitalize for a second just shy of 10-minutes into the contest to double the advantage. It was the rookie Christiansen that was the beneficiary on the second score, as she was able to locate the loose ball in a net-front scrum and deposit a deft shot into the lower left of the cage. The two-goal advantage would stand up as the opening quarter came to a close.
 
The second quarter was equally dominant for IC, as the squad outshot the Rangers 11-to-3 and hold an 8-to-2 penalty corner advantage during the next 15-minutes. Drew keeper Bridget Kenny did well to stand up to the pressure in the early part of the frame, denying Rafferty on a pair of quick-fire chances a little over one minute into the frame. Shortly after, Mullen had a point-blank shot that was kicked away with the blocker.
 
IC was finally able to break through for a third goal with a little over eight minutes left before halftime. Working on their second penalty corner of the quarter, Rafferty inserted possession to the point where Keil and Sestito executed a bump and shoot play. The shot would carom into the cage on a sweet deflection by Mullen in front. The scoring tally was already the third on the young season for the talented transfer.
 
Drew got their first significant offensive foothold in the contest with just over six minutes remaining in the half. Lenker denied Drew's Lauren Zultowski and Sami Strathern on a pair of point-blank chances in close. Caron also factored in big with a big defensive save, clearing a would-be goal off the goal line.
 
Ithaca closed out the half on the front foot with several strong scoring chances. Unfortunately, the late offensive flourish did not result in a breakthrough, as Kenny continued to stand tall in the Drew goal.
 
IC snuffed out any hope that the halftime break would serve as a momentum swinger for the home team. Ithaca jumped out on the front foot and struck for a fourth goal just shy of five minutes into the third quarter. Arleigh Rodgers picked out Rafferty on a great pass from right-to-left across the slot, the latter expertly tapping home the shot. Horowitz put the finishing touches on the impressive win when she potted her second of the night on a nice shuffle pass from Ziehnert in front.
 
Ithaca will conclude its three-game road swing to begin the 2019 season on Wednesday, September 4, when the team heads to Utica to take-on the Pioneers. Start time is set for 7:00 p.m.