By: Nicolas Rosado '24, Athletics Communications Student Assistant
ITHACA, N.Y. - After a 2023 season that saw the Bombers finish 7-8 and miss out on the Liberty League Championships for the second consecutive season, the Ithaca College men's lacrosse team will look to reignite their program behind first-year head coach
Tommy Pearce. The Bombers open its 2024 season on Sunday when they square off against familiar foe St. John Fisher for a non-conference matchup.
Pearce was announced as the newest head coach of the Bombers in May 2023, following the retirement of Jeff Long, who was at the helm of the program for 36 years. Before arriving in Ithaca, Pearce was the head coach for five seasons at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. He also has had coaching stints at Gettysburg College (2005-09) and Frostburg State (2009-18).
The Bombers started off the 2023 season hot, going 7-2 in their first nine games. However, a six-game losing streak to end the season put the South Hill squad in a hole they couldn't recover from, as they were knocked out of postseason contention following the season-finale loss to RPI.
Senior attackman
John Sramac was a key contributor to the Bombers last season and will be returning to the field this year. Sramac scored 35 goals and racked up 11 assists in 14 games played last season. He recorded the third highest shot percentage on the team at .479% and had the most shots on goal on the squad with 57. Also returning for IC is senior attackman
Charlie Niebuhr who netted a career-high 26 goals with seven assists during the 2023 season.
Other key offensive members also returning for the Bombers are junior attackman
Kyle Proctor, senior midfielder
Kyle Savery, and junior attackman/midfielder
Sekou Ibrahima. Last season for the Bombers, Proctor scored six goals and racked up four assists in 14 games played. He recorded a .316 shot percentage with ten shots on goal. Savery appeared in 14 games for Ithaca last season, scoring 13 goals and collecting nine assists. He attempted 49 shots on the year with 32 of them being on goal. Ibrahima saw action in 13 games last year for the Bombers. In those 13 games, he scored seven goals, with two assists recorded. Of his 23 shots attempted, 15 shots were on goal, including one game-winner.
Leading the defensive corps for the Bombers include senior captains
Hunter Wallace and
Aidan Martin who combined for 46 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers. The program has also welcomed 16 newcomers into the fold including three graduate students that transferred into the program. Goalkeeper
Cole Corrigan played three seasons at Washington College and during the 2023 season he appeared in 17 games where he notched 207 saves and had a 51.5% save percentage. Also transferring into the program are midfielder
Aidan Egazarian who appeared in 26 contests at Pace University as well as attackman
Chris Kiely who returns to the area he played high school lacrosse after three seasons at Siena College.
Joining
Tommy Pearce on the coaching staff in 2024 will be assistant coach
Torin Varn. Varn returns to the Bombers' coaching staff for the third time in the last four years. After serving as a volunteer assistant coach for Ithaca in 2020, Varn coached at Cornell in 2021. He returned to the South Hill prior to the 2022 season and has remained on the coaching staff since.
2024 Liberty League Men's Preseason Poll
Place, Team, Points
1. RIT, 49 (7)
2. RPI, 42 (1)
3. Union, 37
4. St. Lawrence, 32
5. Clarkson, 22
6. Skidmore, 20
7. Ithaca, 15
8. Vassar, 7
(First place votes are in parentheses)
Ithaca finished seventh in the Liberty League in 2023 behind RIT, who won the conference title for the 11th consecutive season, followed by RPI, Union, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, and Skidmore. RIT and Union faced off in the Liberty League Championship with the Tigers defeating the Dutchmen, 18-9. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA National Championship Game before falling to Tufts.
The Bombers begin their 2024 season at home at 12 p.m. on Sunday, February 25 at Higgins Stadium against St. John Fisher University.
