ITHACA, N.Y. ā The top-seeded Ithaca College field hockey team used late goals to rally past No. 4 University of Rochester for an emphatic 2-1 victory in double overtime on Wednesday, November 3 at Higgins Stadium. With the Liberty League semifinal win, the 14-4 Bombers have now penciled themselves into the conference championship game this Saturday against Vassar College. The triumph also marks head coach
Kaitlyn Wahila's 100th career win ā 46th victory as IC's head coach.
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It was a firework show on the South Hill with both teams combining for 23 total shots in the contest. The Bombers boasted a 9-to-6 advantage in the shots-on-goal department, which set the stage for their success on Wednesday night. IC paired this standout work with a gritty performance on the back end, as the defensive unit peppered the Yellowjackets and limited them to just three shot attempts from the fourth quarter and beyond.
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Headlining the offense was first-year
Natalie Descalso. The San Carlos, Calif. native continued to flash her potential, culminating a team-high three shots-on-goal and recording the game-winning score in the second overtime period with 5:24 remaining. Descalso took a quick poke check from
Morgan MullenĀ to gain possession inĀ the middle of the circle and sent a diving forehand strike past Rochester's goalkeeper to move IC to its first conference title game since 2015, when the Bombers were a member of the Empire 8 Conference.
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Mullen had a fantastic showing as well by racking up her team-high eighth goal of the season off a penalty stroke late in regulation. With just under seven minutes left in the contest, the Bombers earned a corner.
Jacqueline Mirabile inserted the corner to Descalso, whose shot was blocked.
Amberly Christiansen then followed up with a shot, which went down as a defensive save, but UR was whistled for a foul on the goal line and IC knotted the game on the stroke from Mullen.
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In the cage, goalkeeper
Macy Brandwein continued to impress, as her five saves helped spur the Bombers to victory.
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IC couldn't get anything cooking in the opening quarter, evident by no shots-on-goal and just a single shot attempt.
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Rochester set the tone in the early stages of action by breaking things open and tallying the game's first goal at the 9:41 mark. Off the insert, Amanda Strenk fielded the penalty corner and rocketed a shot from the middle of the circle that evaded Brandwein and landed in the back-right corner of the cage to make it a 1-0 game.
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The Ithaca offense slowly came to life with the unit threatening several times in Rochester territory for the bulk of the second quarter.
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As 3:30 remained in the stanza,
Brianna Lennon shuffled the ball along to the right wing of the post, where Horowitz was stationed. The Longmeadow, Mass. product then slapped a shot to the center of the net before the Yellowjackets goalkeeper saved the scoring opportunity.
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With twenty seconds to go in the first half, Horowitz grounded a pass from the left of the scoring arc in open field and tapped a cross-cage shot that sailed inches to the right of the goal post and rolled out of bounds.
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Rochester's stingy shutdown defense continued to falter the Bombers attack in the third quarter with IC mustering just two shot attempts through the 15-minute period.
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Ithaca was a different animal in the final quarter, however, as Mullen provided a much-needed jolt to the Bombers offense in the final moments. IC outshot Rochester, 4-to-1, over the final 15 minutes of regulation.
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The Bombers took that momentum into the first overtime period and largely controlled the majority of play, but was unable to end the contest after 10 additional minutes.
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Rochester gave the Bombers defense a scare two minutes into double overtime after drawing a penalty corner. Yellowjackets midfielder Julia McDonough retrieved the insert and launched a chip shot that was well-defended by Brandwein as she kicked the ball out of play.
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With 5:24 to go, Ithaca stormed into Rochester territory and dialed up the play of the year. Mullen evaded a defender and whipped a hard pass into the lane of Descalso, who nailed a shot into the back-left corner of the cage to seal the wild home victory.
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Ithaca College will look to complete its quest for its first Liberty League title in school history on Saturday, November 6 when the team squares off against No. 2 Vassar College, which shutout No. 3 St. Lawrence, 4-0, in the other semifinal game, at Higgins Stadium. First whistle is schedule to begin at 1 p.m.
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