ITHACA, N.Y. – The nationally ranked No. 10 Ithaca College women's lacrosse team opened the 2023 season with a 15-5 victory over Brockport at Higgins Stadium on Sunday, February 26. The win marks the ninth straight year in which the Bombers start a season 1-0.

Ithaca opened the season strong and built a 5-0 lead after the first quarter. Maddie Hall scored the team's first goal of the season with 11:17 on the clock.

Two minutes later, Chloe Nordyke found the back of the net to make it a 2-0 game. With 6:06 remaining, Caroline Wise scored in transition to extend the lead to 3-0 and then Sydney Phillips scored her first of two goals in the period with 4:14 left. Phillips closed out the quarter off an assist from Lexi Kellish with 7.3 seconds to go.

Brockport ended IC's run early in the second quarter with a goal less than two minutes in. The Golden Eagles then made it a 5-2 game with 8:51 to go in the half and pulled to within two goals with 6:58 remaining.

Less than a minute later, Kellish pushed IC's lead back out to three goals at 6-3 on an advantage opportunity. The lead grew to 7-3 as Hayley Armstrong netted a goal off a feed from Nordyke with 5:41 to go.

IC and Brockport then traded goals as Nordyke found the back of the net with 1:39 remaining to make it an 8-4 difference.

Ithaca kept up the momentum in the second half as Hall scored off a feed from Armstrong at the 11:33 mark of the third quarter to make IC's largest lead of the contest at 9-4. The Golden Eagles answered almost immediately with a free position goal with 10:14 to go in the period.

Nordyke tallied her hat trick at the 9:34 mark of the third to give the Bombers a 10-5 advantage. With just under six minutes to go in the quarter, Wise capitalized off a short pass from Armstrong to make it a six-goal difference at 11-5. Three minutes later, Wise took another feed from Armstrong to close out the third period with a 12-5 advantage.

Wise extended IC's run with a free position goal to make it 13-5 with 10:58 left and then Wise assisted on a goal from Hall with 4:34 left in regular, making it a 14-5 spread. Ithaca hit the 10-goal mark with 2:47 on the clock as Kellish scored on a free position for the final goal of the contest.

Wise finished the game with four goals and one assist, to go along with seven draws, four caused turnovers and two ground balls. Nordyke and Hall each scored three goals, while Kellish and Phillips each netted two. Armstrong finished four points on three assists and one goal.

Lexi Held earned the win with five saves in 45 minutes of action. Kayla Howley made three stops in the fourth quarter.

The Bombers outshot Brockport, 35-20, and won 16-of-24 draws. IC also caused 13 turnovers.

Ithaca will host No. 13 Cortland on March 1 at 4 p.m.