GENESEO, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team was back on the road on Sunday when it traveled to face upstart SUNY Geneseo. Unfortunately, IC was unable to keep the momentum going from its mid-week triumph over Lycoming, as a late comeback bid fell just short in a 12-11 defeat to the Knights. The loss drops Ithaca's record to 1-2 on the year and 0-2 away from Higgins Stadium this season.
 
The contest was back and forth throughout the day, as neither side led by larger than a three-goal margin during the course of play today. Unfortunately, the game of small scoring runs shifted in the Knights favor during the early half of the final quarter. SUNY Geneseo rattled off three straight goals, two coming from Kevin Cook, to break a 9-9 deadlock. Although IC swung the tide back in its direction late in regulation, the clock simply ticked to midnight on the Bombers furious comeback. Sophomore Jae Stuhlman tickled the twine with 2:36 to play, while leading senior attacker Ryan Ozsvath scored with 36-seconds remaining with IC working on a man-advantage. However, SUNY Geneseo was able to control to ensuing faceoff and bleed out the remaining seconds to hang on for the one-goal win to improve to 2-0 on the year.
 
It was Ozsvath and first-year midfielder Jake Erickson that paced the Bombers with four points apiece. All of Ozsvath's points came on goals, upping his season total to 11 through three contests this season. Erickson had a career day in the assist department, dishing out helpers on four IC tallies.
 
Three other Bombers registered multi-point outings on the day. Junior midfielder Connor Till posted a three-point day with one goals and two assists. Sophomore midfielder Drew Turner as well as Stuhlman each notched two points, Turner finishing with one goal and one assist and Stuhlman registering two scoring strikes.
 
First-year Blake Eischen, junior Connor Brumfield and junior Kyle Johnson each notched one goal in the contest. Sophomore Willy Wright also had one point on an assist.
 
Defensively, senior Aaron McCartney continued his strong start with four ground-balls and four caused turnovers. Junior Jake Hall-Goldman added three ground-balls and one caused turnover on the day.
 
The 'X' continued to be a challenging spot to solve for the Bombers and played a big role in the proceedings in the contest. SUNY Geneseo held a 19-to-7 advantage on faceoffs with none of IC's three draw takers able to win better than 33-percent of their respective draws taken.
 
In goal, senior Robby Atwood played fairly well despite a consistent workload throughout the day. He marked a season-high 12 saves in the game, but fell to 1-2 as the goalie of record this season.
 
The Bombers got off to a fast start to the day with a five-goal opening period. A four-goal run was keyed by scoring strikes from Connor Till, Kyle Johnson, Ryan Ozsvath and a man-up goal from Blake Eischen. Ozsvath's second of the day with 2:24 to play upped the advantage to 5-2 heading into the first intermission.
 
The second quarter featured a 3-0 scoring margin for the hosts to level the contest at 5-5 heading into the halftime break. James Pratt tallied twice during the second 15-minute block, while Kevin Cook also found the back of the net.
 
Another three-goal run by SUNY Geneseo gave the Knights their first lead of the game during the early portion of the third quarter. IC responded with some tallies down the stretch, the final coming from Connor Brumfield in the waning seconds of the quarter. Unfortunately, Geneseo's third three-goal run of the game proved to be enough to hold on during the fourth quarter.
 
Ithaca will be back in action on Saturday, March 7, when defending 2019 National Champion Cabrini comes to Higgins Stadium for a 1:00 p.m. opening faceoff.