CORTLAND, N.Y. – The nationally ranked No. 5 Ithaca College women's lacrosse team opened up its 2022 season with an emphatic win at No. 12 Cortland, 11-6, at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex on March 2. The win also marks IC's eighth straight season in which the Bombers start with a 1-0 record, and it's the third consecutive victory over Cortland – the Red Dragons had won nine of the previous 10 meetings from 2010-19.

Cortland jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period as the Red Dragons tallied the first goal of the game at the 7:30 mark and put home the second with just 39 ticks left.

It was all Bombers from there, however, as IC outscored Cortland, 7-2, in the second quarter to build a 7-4 lead at halftime. Less than 30 seconds into the period, Alexa Ritchie took a pass from Madison Boutureira on an extra player opportunity to get the Bombers on the board.

Cortland went back up by two goals at the 12:17 mark, but the Bombers rattled off four straight scores to flip a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead with 6:05 remaining in the half. Megan Motkowski started the run with an unassisted goal at 9:35 and then Maizy Veitch knotted the contest at 3-3 with 8:31 to go.

A free-position tally from Caroline Wise at the 7:11 mark put IC ahead and then Sydney Phillips capped off the run on an assist from Motkowski.

Cortland ended IC's run and halted its scoreless drought of 10 minutes with 2:04 on the clock to make the score 5-4. The Bombers went into the half with two more goals as Veitch found the back of the net at 1:35 and then Ritchie closed out the half on an unassisted marker with 13 seconds to go.

Ithaca extended its lead to 10-4 by the end of the third quarter, as the Bombers outscored Cortland, 3-0, during the 15-minute session.

It took 11 minutes for the Bombers to get on the board, but with 4:25 remaining, Ritchie recorded her hat trick off a pass from Boutureira. Two minutes later, Wise scored again as Veitch earned the assist and the Veitch notched her hat trick goal in the waning seconds.

The Red Dragons attempted a comeback with two early goals in the fourth quarter, both coming in a 1:07 span from 12:31 to 11:24, but that was as close as Cortland could get as Veitch put the game away with her fourth goal of the contest with 4:59 left in regulation.

Lexi Held earned her first career victory in goal as she stopped seven shots in 60 minutes of action.

Wise won 11 draw controls in the game, while Rachel Rosenberg won three to go along with two groundballs and a caused turnover. Kelly Mehorter also won two draws.

Ithaca outshot Cortland, 34-23, and won 16-of-21 draws in the game. IC was also successful on 24-of-26 clears.

The Bombers have a quick turnaround and head to FDU-Florham on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. contest in Madison, N.J.