CANTON, N.Y. — The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team dropped a close contest to Liberty League rival St. Lawrence University on Friday evening, falling 12–10.
 
Jake Erickson led all players with a game-high four goals to pace the Bombers, while also tallying an assist. Connor Brumfield also had a hat trick, and Kyle Proctor had a multi-goal performance as well. Rounding out the Bombers offense was Kyle Savery, who put together a two-point effort with a goal and an assist. Demetri Lowry picked up five ground balls to lead the Bombers, and also led Ithaca in caused turnovers with three. Ryan LaForty was in net, stopping 12 shots for a .500 save percentage.
 
The Saints got out to a quick start, opening the scoring in the first two minutes off a goal from Stew Hutchinson. The Saints kept their hot start going with goals from Chase Malatesta, Cody Sipher, and Hutchinson to jump out to an early four goal lead. It was all Saints in the opening nine minutes, leading in shots on goal 8–1. The Bombers got going on the ensuing faceoff after Gulick won it to himself, and the offense got to work. Shots from Erickson and Andrew Tinnesz were saved, but Brumfield was finally able to get Ithaca on the board with 4:40 left. The following faceoff was won by Ithaca again, and Erickson cut the Saints lead to two with 1:45 remaining in the quarter. The Saints had one last chance to extend their lead in the first, but LaForty stood tall, keeping the score at 4–2.
 
After a successful clear after the opening faceoff, Erickson got his second of the day to make the Bombers deficit just one goal three minutes into the quarter. Ithaca could not find the equalizer however, as Judge Murphy scored a minute later, and Ben Hutchinson added onto the Saints lead, making it 6–3. Erickson stopped the Saints mini run with a goal with 4:27 left in the half, after LaForty recovered a ground ball, and Turner assisted Erickson. Sipher would score another for St. Lawrence, but Proctor cut the deficit to two just before the half, and the half would end with the Saints leading 7–5.
 
The Saints added on to their lead just 49 seconds in to the second half, as Malatesta scored to give St. Lawrence a three-goal lead. Bobby Bartlett got his first goal of the season for the Saints to give them a 9–5 lead early in the half. After the Saints second goal of the third quarter, play died down, as both teams were unable to muster much offensively. Finally breaking through was Brumfield for the Bombers, who was assisted by Blake Eischen with 4:26 left. The Saints had a chance to get their lead back up to four goals with a two-minute man-up opportunity, but a defensive ground ball recovery from Savery led to him getting an assist on Erickson's fourth goal of the contest, and the Bombers would trail entering the fourth quarter 9–7.
 
Scoring early in the quarter this time was Ithaca, as Brumfield scored after a successful clear, putting the Bombers behind by just one. With 11:40 left, Ithaca got the tying goal from Savery, but the Saints responded emphatically. St. Lawrence won the following faceoff, scored a minute after that, and after a couple of more possessions, had a three-goal lead with 8:47 left. The Bombers were unable to generate enough chances to close the gap before it got too late, as Proctor scored with 24 seconds left, and Ithaca fell to St. Lawrence 12–10.
 
The Saints led in shots and shots on goal, 36–27 and 24–20. The Bombers had the advantage in turnovers, only committing 17 to the Saints 21, but trailed heavily in ground balls 40–20.
 
Ithaca looks to bounce back at 7 p.m. next Tuesday, April 4 at Scranton against University of Scranton in a rescheduled game initially set for March 10.