ITHACA, N.Y. – The nationally ranked No. 22 Ithaca College field hockey team improved to 7-2 on the season with a 1-0 shutout victory over the University of Scranton on Wednesday evening at Higgins Stadium. IC has now won four straight games and the last three have come by shutout as the Bombers have not allowed a goal in 239 minutes.
The lone goal of the contest came in the final minute of action off a corner attempt. The Bombers were awarded a corner with 1:08 remaining in regulation and
Brenna Schoenfeld inserted the ball to
Eliza Ballaro, who sent a well-struck shot towards frame, which would be redirected into the goal by Schoenfeld for the game-winning goal with 1:01 on the clock.
The early stages of the game was dominated by a fast and aggressive Royals team, who seemed to overwhelm IC in the first quarter. Scranton fired off six shots in the first period and its initial attempt was saved by
Maeve Clark. In the final minute, the Royals took four shots in an 8-second span with one ringing off a post and two more were saved by Clark. Ithaca thwarted the damage after that by clearing a corner to end the quarter.
Scranton continued to control the pace of play in the second quarter to run their shot differential to 8-0 after 10 more minutes of action. IC weathered the storm once again and finally countered with its own offensive attack over the final 3:25 as shots from
Brooke Snider and
Payton Yahner were saved to keep the contest at a stalemate heading to intermission.
The Bombers' stifling defense took over for the final 30 minutes of action and locked down one of the most potent offenses in the country as the Royals were unable to take a shot in the second half. IC held Scranton's leading goal scorer, Annie Shaw, to no shots in the contest.
Clark finished the game with three saves to improve to 6-2 on the season.
Ithaca will now turn its focus to Liberty League play as the Bombers will play seven straight conference games beginning this Saturday at Union at 1 p.m.
