ITHACA, N.Y.– In absolute dramatic fashion, under first year head coach
Tommy Pearce, the Ithaca College men's lacrosse team took their home opener against arch-rival St. John Fisher with a final score of 12-10. This victory marks the first time the Bombers walked away victors in this storied matchup since the 2017 season. This victory also represents Coach Pearce's first as the head coach of the Bombers.
This game had fireworks from start to finish as both teams were clicking from the start. It was the Bombers offense that got going first as they jumped out to a 3-0 early lead in the first quarter. Two of the Bombers defensive midfielders,
Michael Gillam and
Jared Sedlock, were able to push in transition and scored the first two goals in the game. Then, it was two of the veteran Bombers hooking up for a goal as
John Sramac found
Charlie Niebuhr on the doorstep for the 3-0 lead.
The Cardinals weren't going down without a fight as they scored the next four goals in this contest giving them a 4-3 lead into the second quarter. Sean Donaldson, Jordan Leuze, and Matt Slowinski were the main catalysts to get the Cardinals offense going.
The second half was where the Bombers took over, especially on the defensive side of the ball. St. John Fisher was only able to score three goals in the second half after they led at halftime 7-6. Transfer goalie
Cole Corrigan was a brick wall all afternoon and the Bombers defensive unit was tenacious all game long forcing turnovers and making huge stops.
After being down 8-7,
Derek Stout and
Sekou Ibrahima scored back-to-back goals for the Bombers giving them the 9-8 advantage. The Cardinals answered with two goals of their own giving them a 10-9 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
John Sramac scored the game-tying goal and
Sam Baker scored the go-ahead goal to give the Bombers the 11-10 lead. The Bombers added one more goal for insurance late in this one to seal the deal for their first win of the season. Scoring the insurance effort was
Derek Stout as he made a nice play after receiving a pass from
Sekou Ibrahima.
The Bombers had several players with multi-point efforts led by
Sekou Ibrahima and
Derek Stout who had a goal with three assists and three goals, respectively. Matthew Kemmis led the way for St. John Fisher with two goals and an assist.
Ithaca College's next game will take place on Wednesday, February 28 when they travel to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to take on Lycoming at 4 p.m. for another non-conference contest.
