By: Ryan Collins '26, Athletics Communications Student Assistant
ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca College men's lacrosse program is all set for their 2026 season after finishing last season 10-9 overall and 3-4 in Liberty League. The Bombers were also outstanding at home last season, going 8-1, while outscoring their opponents 129 to 58 at Higgins Stadium.
Ithaca will be starting off this season at home against (RV) St. John Fisher in their season opener for the third straight season at 1:00 p.m., but will host it indoors at Pinnacle Athletic Campus and Events Center on Saturday in Victory.
Tommy Pearce enters his third season as the head coach for the Bombers alongside
Torin Varn. The Bombers will also have 25 upperclassmen on their roster this season with 12 juniors and 13 seniors.
The upperclassmen will play a large role this season with a lot of key players graduating last year. "At face-off, we return
Corey White who took a lot last year, and
Harrison Spangler and
Liam Alberti will both add depth to that position this year," said Pearce. "At defense
Chris Closuit and
Ethan Bland earned some time at defense last year and are competing to fill roles along with some others competing for playing time."
White, Spangler, and Alberti will be counted on a lot in the face-off X this season, which Ithaca was dominant in last year with a .615 winning percentage earning them the second-best percentage in the Liberty League. The three players all posted winning percentages over .500, with Alberti having the highest percentage at .778. Meanwhile, White got the most chances of the returning face-off men, winning 64 out of 117 draws, and he was also third on the team last year in ground balls recovered, first amongst the returning players.
The Bombers bring a lot of power on the offensive end into this season with
Lucas Proctor at the center of it. Last year Proctor was tied for the team lead with 29 goals, he was second on the team with 21 assists, for 50 total points which led the team.
Ethan Adrid will also play a key role as he added 15 goals, 17 assists, for 32 points to balance out the offense.
On the defensive end,
Jace Dockx leads the way, starting all 19 games last season, fourth on the team with 40 ground balls picked up. Dockx also added a goal and an assist on the year. Alongside
Chris Closuit and
Ethan Bland will also have a chance to play a key role on the backend.
"We have several first years that have been playing well and will be competing for playing time this season, on the offensive end, lefty attackmen Ryan Connely,
Tommy Allocco and
Ben Parylak in the midfield,
Jack Murphy at d-midfield, and
Harry O'Neil on the defensive end," said Pearce.
This will provide the depth the Bombers will look to blend throughout the lineup with numerous first years battling for playing time in the lineup to provide depth to the roster. Which will be necessary with numerous ranked schools that will play including: nationally ranked No. 4 RIT, No. 7 RPI, No. 12 St. Lawrence University, and No. 15 SUNY Cortland. The Bombers will also face several other schools who also received votes in the rankings. For Ithaca this is no different from last year, and the Bombers competed until the very end in those games.
"We lost three games by one goal to top-20 teams last year and played some others close, so we are focusing on the little things over the course of a game that add up to make the difference to be on the winning side of those games; clearing at a high percentage after we get stops on defense, getting some extra possessions back in the ride, winning face-offs, eliminating turnovers, and then being efficient on the offensive end, creating high percentage shot opportunities and making them count," Pearce explained.
In those games the Bombers will look to play to their strengths in their lineup. The Bombers have their offensive stars, their defensive end corner stones, key face-off guys, and reliable goalkeeper
Andrew Minard. Minard played in all 19 games last season, starting 18 of them. In those games he posted a .564 save percentage and an 8.54 goals against average.
"
Andrew Minard had a strong year in goal last season, and we return all conference performers in
Lucas Proctor and
Jace Dockx. Although we lost a lot of contributors to graduation last year, we return experienced players at every position across the board, so our depth of returners with experience will be an asset," Pearce stated.
Last year their season came to an end in the Liberty League Championship Semifinals against nationally ranked No. 3 RIT, after defeating (RV) Skidmore College in the Liberty League Championship Quarterfinals.
The Bombers will open their season against (RV) St. John Fisher on Saturday with the first faceoff slated for 1 p.m.
