ITHACA, N.Y. – The nationally ranked No. 23 Ithaca College field hockey team put together a dominant performance on Sunday at Higgins Stadium as the Bombers shutout Vassar, 4-0, behind goals from four different players. Ithaca is now 9-5 on the season and 4-1 in the Liberty League, and extend its winning streak to four straight over the Brewers dating back to 2022.
The first 15 minutes of the contest was a battle to gain possession as neither team took a shot or earned a corner, but within the opening minute of the second period,
Natalie Descalso sent a centering pass to
Catherine Papa and her shot attempt just missed the top right corner of the goal to keep the game scoreless.
With just over 12 minutes to go in the second quarter, Vassar was issued a green card, and 14 seconds later the Bombers capitalized on the chance as Descalso snuck one past the Vassar goalkeeper off a short pass from
Brenna Schoenfeld to give IC a 1-0 lead.
The first penalty corner of the game was awarded to the Bombers with 2:11 left in the first half. IC took two shots off the corner, but one was blocked and the other was saved.
Vassar came out in the second half with an aggressive attack and earned a corner 45 seconds into the third quarter. The Brewers fired off two shots and
Maeve Clark made a diving save to keep the second attempt from finding the back of the net.
The Bombers countered and pushed quickly down the field, which resulted in a 2-0 lead as
Meara Bury fired a shot that was redirected off a defender's stick into the goal with 13:06 left in the quarter.
IC's lead grew to 3-0 with 7:47 on the clock as
Madeleine Goodman scored off a corner at the top of the circle.
Bella McCollister earned the assisted on the play as the initial insert snuck outside the circle, but McCollister corralled the ball and found Goodman for an open shot.
With just over one minute remaining in the third quarter, Andrey McMahon picked up her first goal of the season off a redirected shot by Descalso to make it 4-0. McMahon started the corner insert and made her way towards cage as Descalso unleashed a shot from the left wing.
Maeve Clark earned the win to improve to 6-4 on the season in 45 minutes of action with one save.
Abby Cannon played the fourth quarter and did not face a shot.
Ithaca will remain home next Friday, October 25 with a 4 p.m. contest against Skidmore.
