MEDFORD, Mass. – The nationally ranked No. 10 Ithaca College women's lacrosse team had its historic 2022 season come to an end in the third round of the NCAA Division III Championship at Tufts University, as the Bombers dropped a hard-fought 12-11 decision to No. 6 Franklin & Marshall College. Ithaca finishes its year with a 17-4 record, while F&M improves to 18-3 and will face No. 3 Tufts tomorrow for a trip to the national semifinals.

The game was truly a tail of quarters as F&M outscored the Bombers, 10-4, in the first and third quarters, while IC held a 7-2 advantage in the second and fourth quarters. Of the four losses this season for IC, each contest came down to a single goal.

It was an intense opening 30 minutes of action in the top 10 matchup as Ithaca and Franklin & Marshall played to one-goal difference, 5-4 in favor of F&M, heading into intermission.

The Diplomats got on the board early, just 1:03 into the contest, and built a 4-1 lead after the first quarter of action. Just over three minutes later, Maizy Veitch tallied IC's first goal of the contest, but F&M answered with three more in the final 5:30 of the period, including the final tally with just 2.9 seconds on the clock.

Ithaca dominated the second quarter and tied things up at 4-4 with 2:39 remaining in the half behind two more goals from Veitch and the first tally from Sydney Phillips. The Bombers controlled possession for at least 10 minutes of the quarter, but F&M had the final say and took a 5-4 advantage into halftime on a goal with 12 seconds to go.

Franklin & Marshall came out of the break on fire and established two different four-goal leads. After Phillips knotted the game at 5-5 with 13:29 to play, the Diplomats rattled off four straight to build a 9-5 edge with 9:22 remaining.

IC answered with two in a row from Phillips and Madison Boutureira to make it a 9-7 game with 6:39 to play, but F&M tallied the final two goals to take an 11-7 lead into the final quarter of play.

After five minutes elapsed in the fourth quarter, the Bombers crept back to within three goals at 11-8 as Veitch picked up her fourth goal of the contest as Rachel Rosenberg earned the assist. With just under eight minutes left in regulation, Veitch earned her fifth goal of the evening off a pass from Lexi Kellish to bring the Bombers back to within two at 11-9.

The Bombers pulled to within one, 11-10, with 3:42 remaining as Boutureira notched her second goal of the game after a big time save from Lexi Held at the other end of the field on a free position.

Held would go on to make 10 saves in the game, matching All-American goalie Emily Kitchin on the other end of the field.

Ithaca had a chance to tie the game on its next possession, but turned the ball over and F&M capitalized out of a timeout with 1:31 left for a 12-10 advantage. Phillips notched the final goal of the contest with just one second remaining to account for the 12-11 final.

The Bombers outshot F&M, 33-27, and held an 18-8 advantage in draws. Ithaca did commit two more turnovers, 18-16, but the Diplomats caused 12 of those turnovers, compared to seven for IC. The Bombers were also 0-for-5 in free positions and F&M went 4-for-7.