BABSON PARK, Mass. – The nationally ranked No. 3 Ithaca College women's lacrosse team found themselves locked in a tough battle with Babson College on Wednesday afternoon, March 16 at MacDowell Field as the Bombers came away with a 16-14 victory. The win lifts IC's record to 4-0 ahead of its Liberty League opener against RPI on Saturday at Higgins Stadium.
Despite the two-goal difference, the Bombers never trailed in the contest, but were tied with Babson on two occasions – 1-1 and 11-11.
IC jumped out to a 7-4 lead after a quarter of play as
Maizy Veitch,
Madison Boutureira and
Caroline Wise each tallied two goals in the period. Veitch scored the first goal of the contest just 1:06 in before Babson knotted the game at 1-1. The Bombers then went on a four-goal run in a two-minute span on two goals from Boutureira, an extra opportunity tally from Wise and a goal by Alex Ritchie.
Babson ended the streak with a goal at the 10:05 mark, but IC answered with back-to-back goals from Wise and Veitch within 30 seconds to make the score 7-2 with 9:01 to play. Babson closed out the quarter with a pair of goals to pull to within three heading to the second period.
The Beavers controlled the second 15 minutes of play, outscoring the Bombers by a 4-2 margin, to make the game a 9-8 difference heading to intermission. IC's goals were scored by
Megan Motkowski and Veitch, to give her another hat trick on the season.
The second half was back-and-forth all 30 minutes. IC opened with a pair of goals from
Sydney Phillips (down) and Veitch, but Babson answered with three straight, all extra opportunities, to knot the game at 11-11 with 3:31 remaining in the quarter. Wise and
Maddie Hall got the Bombers back on the board to regain a two-goal edge, 13-11, with less than two minutes to go.
Babson closed out the third with another goal to set the stage for the final 15 minutes of play.
Phillips and Boutureira scored early in the fourth, but the Beavers answered right back to keep the game at a one-goal spread with 6:35 left.
Veith notched the final tally of the contest with 2:53 on the clock to give her eight points in the game on five goals and three assists.
Lexi Held stopped eight shots in cage for her fourth win of the season.
