ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team battled crosstown rival Cortland on Wednesday evening under the lights in Higgins Stadium as the game-winner turned out to be a man-up goal that was scored with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter by
Jack Giannuzzi with the Bombers holding on for a 12-11 victory over the Red Dragons. It was the first win over the Red Dragons since the 2018 season and boosts Ithaca's record to 7-7 overall as they have two Liberty League games remaining in its regular season schedule.
The Bombers seized all the momentum out of the gates as they came out fired up and were rewarded with two-straight goals. The first was netted 4:21 into the first quarter with
John Sramac scoring an unassisted effort that was followed up by a
Charlie Niebuhr effort that was scored 31 seconds later putting Ithaca up 2-0. Cortland would counter scoring two unanswered goals in the middle portion of the period, but IC would go up 3-2 with
Andrew Benjamin tallying his second goal of the season as they carried the lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter saw the most combined scoring in the game with seven goals netted within the 15 minute period as Cortland would tie it up at three goals apiece with a Ryan Scanlon goal. It was answered just about four minutes later when
Kyle Proctor dished off a nice pass that was finished off by
John Sramac. The Red Dragons scored the next two goals going up 5-4, but momentum once again swung in favor of Ithaca as they made the most of a pair of Cortland penalties and both
Charlie Niebuhr and
John Sramac scored man-up goals with
Sam Baker also scoring an unassisted effort within a three-goal run. The Bombers carried a 7-5 lead into the halftime break.
It was the
Sam Baker show in the third quarter as he scored both of the Bombers goals to complete his hat trick including a nice rip from 20 yards out that fooled the Red Dragons goalkeeper Travis Wagner. Cortland would go on to tie it up again this time at 10 goals apiece a little over five minutes into the fourth quarter.
After
Hunter Wallace caused Cortland's Klay Stuver into a turnover, he scooped up the ground ball and dashed towards the net and fired it home for his second goal of the season. The Bombers would win the ensuing faceoff with
Chris Sohl winning it on a violation and
Jack Giannuzzi fired the game-winner into the back of the net making it 12-10 as he was assisted by
Ethan Adrid.
Cortland would score one more time, but IC was able to run out the closing seconds to earn the 12-11 victory. Sohl was potent in faceoffs going a season-best 18-of-23 on Wednesday. Graduate goalkeeper
Cole Corrigan notched seven saves in the win.
John Sramac finished with a game-high four goals.
Ithaca College will travel to Potsdam, N.Y. on Saturday, April 20 for a Liberty League matchup at Clarkson University. Game time is slated for 1 p.m.
