ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team was back in action on Tuesday afternoon when it kicked off the home slate at Higgins Stadium this season against Lycoming College. The Bombers extended their run of dominance over the Warriors, improving to 15-0 all-time against the frequent non-league rival with a 17-5 victory on Tuesday. The win improves Ithaca's record to 1-1 on the year.
 
The IC attack continued to convert chances at an impressive and efficient clip during Tuesday's game. Just three days following a 13-goal performance against 14^th-ranked St. John Fisher, IC kept the attack in gear with a 17-goal outing against a Lycoming squad that had gotten off to a 2-0 start to the year with home wins over Susquehanna as well as Washington & Jefferson. Ithaca had 11 players register at least one point on the day with five IC players posting multi-goal outings.
 
As encouraging as the offensive results were, IC also was pleased with improvements the team made in the defensive end and on faceoff – two areas that were victimized in the 18-13 defeat to the Cardinals to open the year. The Bombers were competitive in the faceoff battle, securing 11-of-25 on the day, while IC racked up 11 caused turnovers in holding Lycoming to modest totals of 24 shot attempts, 12 shots on goal, and only five goals conceded.
 
Three IC players recorded hat-trick efforts on the day. Leading the way was junior attacker Connor Brumfield, who exploded for a game-high four points on three goals and one assist. Senior attacker Ryan Ozsvath netted a trio of goals – his second consecutive outing with a hat-trick – to push his season total to seven. First-year attacker Black Eischen also thrived in his home debut, tallying his first three collegiate goals in the win.
 
Sophomore midfielder Drew Turner and sophomore transfer Ted Kapp both finished with two-goal outings in the win. First-year midfielder Jake Erickson continued to play a big role in the offense, racking up a goal and two assists for his second straight three-point outing. Junior Connor Till joined Erickson in registering three points, all coming on assists. Sophomore Jae Stuhlman added two helpers, while junior Dillon Fitzpatrick and seniors Kevin Enos and Dan Lee each tallied one goal on the day.
 
Senior Aaron McCartney continued to lead the defensive efforts for the Bombers. He racked up three caused turnovers on the day to pace all players, while he also scooped up five ground-balls. Senior long-stick mid Sean Seaberg had an active day, forcing two caused turnovers and scooping four ground-balls. Junior Jake Hall-Goldman, as well as sophomores Drew Stohler and Liam Farnan each registered one caused turnover in the win.
 
Sophomore Cameron MacNicol was Ithaca's top man at the 'X' on the day. He finished an even-.500 on draws, posting eight wins in 16 total attempts. Stohler went 2-for-3 as a late-game addition, while first-year Jacob Smelstor won one draw and added a caused turnover in six chances.
 
In goal, senior Robby Atwood had a nice performance. He registered seven total saves in playing the entire 60-minutes to improve his record to 17-5 as a starter for his career. He made several sharp saves despite being intermittently tested on the afternoon.
 
The first quarter began quietly, as both teams looked to find their rhythm in the opening minutes. Ozsvath provided the ice-breaker for the Bombers roughly halfway through the frame, whipping home a shot from the left wing to put the Ithaca up 1-0. He added a second tally on a one-time shot off a pass from Erickson to double IC's advantage with 5:01 to play. Although Lycoming's Shain Quigley pulled the visitors back within a goal with 3:06 to play, quick succession tallies from Blake Eischen and Connor Brumfield in the final minute of the quarter gave IC the momentum heading into the second.
 
Eischen widened Ithaca's edge to 5-1 just 1:04 into the second quarter. The goal came off a nice zig-zagging run down the right wing, before slipping a bounce shot inside the post. The goals briefly came to a stand-still before another big IC run down the back stretch of the quarter blew things open. Ithaca strung together four straight scoring strikes over a 3:34 stretch with just over five-minutes remaining in the second. Turner got the run going with a top-shelf snipe at 5:28. Fitzpatrick netted his goal 50-seconds later, while Ted Kapp scored his first as a Bomber with 3:02 remaining. Erickson capped the half with a top-shelf laser off a beautiful low-to-high pass from Brumfield on the left wing to Erickson at the right point. The scoring run gave IC a commanding 9-2 lead at the break.
 
Nursing a big lead, Ithaca slowed the tempo a bit during the final 30-minutes of play. Brumfield netted back-to-back tallies just under three-minutes apart midway through the third quarter to maintain Ithaca's advantage. Ozsvath completed his hat-trick and sparked a six-goal run for the Bombers that spanned the end of the third quarter through the majority of the fourth quarter. Turner, Eischen, Lee, Kapp and Enos added tallies during the run, which put the contest well in-hand.
 
Ithaca will be back on the road this coming Saturday, February 29, when the Bombers head to SUNY Geneseo for a noon start.