ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College field hockey team played on home turf for the first time on the young 2019 season on Saturday afternoon when the Bombers faced Misericordia on a picture-perfect afternoon on South Hill. Ithaca kept up its winning ways to begin the year, defending its home turf at Higgins Stadium with a 1-0 triumph over the Cougars. The victory improves IC's record to 4-0 on the season, continuing the program's best start since the 2013 season.
 
The decisive score of the day came off the stick of sophomore midfielder Jacqueline Mirabile, who netted the lone goal of the afternoon. It was an incredible individual display of skill by the second-year talent. With IC gaining a foothold in the attacking zone early after the resumption of play following halftime, Mirabile picked up possession on the right flank. She used an excellent stick-skill to spin on the backhand past her marking defender and earn a degree of separation. From just inside the top of the restraining arc, she loaded up a laser of slap-shot that knuckled past Misericordia keeper Katelyn Campbell and thudded off the back board of the cage.
 
The Ithaca defense and some timely keeping from senior captain Savanna Lenker made the score stand up. Lenker finished with two saves, while she got some significant help from sophomores Victoria Sestito and Anna Parrish who each delivered a defensive save to help the Bombers keep a clean sheet during a tense fourth quarter. It was Ithaca's second shutout in four tries this season.
 
The contest was played very tactically during the opening half, which led to few attacking chances on either side. The best chance came for the Bombers less than a minute in, when sophomore transfer Morgan Mullen deflected a shot on target that Campbell had to kick away for the game's first save. She would finish with eight on the day, delivering sparkling sequence in the fourth quarter that kept IC from scoring multiple goals for the first time on the season.
 
The Bombers continued to hold a significant territorial advantage when play changed over to the second quarter. IC outshot the Cougars 4-to-0 in the frame, but again were stymied from finding an opening breakthrough. Campbell once-again was sharp in denying junior striker Kristen Rafferty and Mullen on saves one-minute apart late in the quarter. Meanwhile, IC's midfield and backline completely clamped down on Misericordia when play occasionally drifted into the defensive zone. IC did not allow a shot attempt or penalty corner in the opening half.
 
After Mirabile's breakthrough early in the third quarter, Misericordia made its deepest incursion into the IC zone, searching for a quick equalizer. Lenker answered the call in resounding fashion, perfectly tracking a hard shot from Kayla Pogash in the slot to kick the Cougars' first shot attempt away. On the flip side, Ithaca was bottled up for the most part during the remainder of the quarter. Ithaca's best chance came from Rafferty, who directed a shot on the near-side that was denied by Campbell.
 
The fourth quarter had the most fireworks with 10 of the game's 21 total shot attempts coming in the final 15-minutes. It was IC's defense that shown through early in the frame with the Cougars launching out on the front foot to begin the final quarter. Lenker made a stop on Anna Effinger point-blank on the doorstep just 49-seconds into the quarter, but the rebound stayed active in a scramble in front of the cage. Effinger followed up the rebound with a shot towards the vacated cage that was swept off the goal line by Parrish in a sparkling defensive save. On an ensuing penalty corner, Misericordia again nearly found an equalizer off a scrum; however, this time it was Sestito that came up large to keep the ball out of the cage.
 
After the initial scare, Ithaca played its best defense with its offense, keeping possession in the Misericordia zone for most of the remainder of regulation. Ithaca's best sequence came with a little over five minutes remaining. Sestito, sophomore midfielder Grace Ziehnert and first-year Arla Davis had a trio of successive shots that were all denied by Campbell on a penalty corner sequence. Ziehnert's shot was on a sharp deflection, while Davis tried a lob shot that Campbell skied to punch away with the blocker.
 
Misericordia had one final chance at an equalizer with under four-minutes to play, but Kayla Pogash had her shot blocked and possession remained with the Bombers over the waning minutes.
 
Ithaca will be back in action on Wednesday, September 11, when it welcomes Hartwick College to Higgins Stadium for a 4:00 p.m. start.