ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team defeated Vassar College at Higgins Stadium Saturday afternoon, winning 13–11. The Bombers improved to 7–2 overall, 2–1 in Liberty League play, and 5–0 at home.
Ithaca had a big day from their players coming off the bench, as
Charlie Niebuhr recorded a hat trick, and
Sekou Ibrahima had two goals as well.
Kyle Savery and
Andrew Tinnesz each had a goal and an assist, and
Drew Turner also found the back of the net once. The starting attack trio of
Kyle Proctor,
Jake Erickson, and
John Sramac went to work again, with Proctor scoring two goals and two assists, Erickson recording two goals, and Sramac tallying a goal and an assist.
Chris Sohl handled most of the faceoff work for the Bombers, winning 16 of 20 draws, while
Chase Gulick also won five of the eight he took. Sohl and Gulick led the Bombers in ground balls, picking up eight and four respectively, and Benjamin Andrew grabbed four additionally. Defensively,
Wesley Hudkins and
Billy Winters each had two caused turnovers, and
Ryan LaForty made 16 saves on 27 shots, finishing with a save percentage of .529.
Vassar jumped out to a quick lead right out of the gate, as Troy Santise scored right off the opening faceoff just 15 seconds into the game. The Brewers added onto their lead five minutes later, getting a goal from Riley Olds. The Bombers answered back past the halfway mark of the first quarter, when Savery got on the board, and Erickson tied the game off an assist from Tinnesz with 2:36 left in the quarter. With a minute left in the frame, Ibrahima put the Bombers in front with a goal assisted by Savery, giving Ithaca a 3–2 lead to end the first quarter.
Ithaca continued its scoring stretch into the beginning of the second quarter, scoring 41 seconds in with a goal from Proctor assisted by
Connor Brumfield. Vassar stopped the bleeding momentarily with Santise's second goal, but Ithaca responded with another two goals from Tinnesz and Niebuhr to lead 6–3. Vassar cut into the Bombers lead at 8:23 with a goal from Shane O'Hara, but Ithaca came back with three more goals. Proctor scored with 6:55 left off an assist from Sramac, and then Sramac scored just seven seconds later off an assist from Proctor. Turner capped the three-goal stretch off with an unassisted tally 33 seconds later. Trailing 9–4, Anderson Eads and Solomon Hess cut the Brewers deficit to three with a pair of goals 22 seconds apart. Each team scored in the final two minutes, Niebuhr for the Bombers and Olds for the Brewers, and Ithaca led 10–7 at the half.
The Brewers started strong in the second half, scoring the first goal one minute in from Baker Morton, but a three-goal stretch for the Bombers put the game out of reach. Ibrahima scored with 10 minutes left, and a minute later, Niebuhr was assisted by Brumfield on a goal. With four minutes left, Erickson scored the Bombers final goal of the day, putting them up 13–8. In the fourth quarter, the Bombers didn't score, but locked down defensively, only allowing five shots on goal, leading to a 13–11 victory.
Vassar led in shots 46–38, but shots on goal was a closer margin, 27–26 in favor of the Brewers. Vassar had a better day clearing the defensive zone, going 16–19 to Ithaca's 14–22, and also took better care of the ball, committing only 19 turnovers to Ithaca's 27. However, the Bombers had the advantage in net, saving 16 shots to the 13 the Brewers got. Ithaca also had a strong day in the faceoff circle, going 21–7 in faceoffs and picking up 35 ground balls, 11 more than the Brewers.
Ithaca takes on the defending Division III and Liberty League champion RIT Tigers, who are 11–1 overall and 3–0 against conference opponents next at 5 p.m. on April 12 in Rochester, New York.
