ITHACA, N.Y. – Less than a week after winning the Liberty League Championship, the Ithaca College women's soccer program will look to add more hardware to its trophy case when the Bombers kickoff their run in the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament with first and second rounds taking place. The Bombers head to Dallas, Pennsylvania at Mangelsdorf Field hosted by Misericordia for a first-round matchup against the No. 22 ranked Penn State Behrend Lions. Game time is set for 1:30 p.m. with the winner moving on to take on the winner of the other first round matchup between No. 6 Misericordia University and Grove City College that will be played at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The winners will then compete on Sunday, November 17 at 1 p.m. to advance to the third round of the tournament.
 
The NCAA Division III Tournament will feature 64 teams, starting with 32 games on Saturday for the first round followed by 16 games on Sunday for the second round. Ithaca College (13-2-4) will be making the program's 30^th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and earned the right after defeating No. 11 William Smith, 4-3 in penalty kicks after a scoreless draw to be crowned Liberty League champions. It was the Bombers second Liberty League Championship in three years, and they enter the tournament shutting out their last four opponents.
 
SCOUTING ITHACA
The Bombers enter the NCAA Tournament with a 13-2-4 and went 7-2 in conference. They led the Liberty League with eight all-conference selections and graduate midfielder Sarah Sinnott was named the Liberty League Player of the Year. Sinnott leads the team with 11 goals for 22 points and is among the conference leaders and is third in goals and points while also ranking fourth in goals per game (.579) and fifth in points per game (1.16).
 
Sinnott along with forwards Ally Stanton (17), Rosie Bostian (11) and Ava Detorie (11) are the leading point scorers. Stanton has scored a team-high five game-winning goals and Ava Detorie has generated nine assists, which are tied for the most within the Liberty League and she is also currently tied for the sixth most in program history within a single season.
 
As a team, the Bombers score 2.15 goals per game, and they held opponents to a league-low seven goals (0.37 per game). Nationally, Ithaca is 11th in shutout percentage (14 shutouts, .737), 13th in goals against average (.364), and 14th in save percentage (.883).
 
SCOUTING NO. 22 PENN STATE BEHREND
The Lions enter the NCAA Tournament winners of their last 12 contests and defeated Pitt-Greensburg 4-0 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships to earn an automatic bid. Penn State Behrend have not given up a goal in 440 minutes, with the last coming in their match against St. John Fisher on Oct. 23, which was a 2-1 win over the Cardinals.
 
Senior forward Trinity Prestash has been the main offensive catalyst and enters the weekend second in NCAA Division III with 27 goals this season and is sixth in total points with 61. Prestash scored in every AMCC conference match this season and netted 10 game-winning efforts. She is PSU Behrend's all-time leading goal scorer with 70 career goals and was named the AMCC Offensive Player of the Year, while Nicole Croushore earned Defensive Player of the Year. Croushore has helped lead the Lions defensive backline that has held opponents to eight goals over 18 contests for a 0.48 goals against average and as a team they registered 13 shutouts.
 
Riley Morningstar has started all 19 matches in goal for the Lions making 33 saves where she has played 1665:00 minutes and has a 0.43 goals against average.