ITHACA, N.Y. – An explosive second quarter on Senior Day saw the No. 20 nationally ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team earn a 14-9 victory over the No. 19 Skidmore College Thoroughbreds on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Bombers to 11-5 overall and 5-1 in conference, with the latter meaning Ithaca has the regular season Liberty League conference title and will host a Liberty League Championship tournament game for the first time since 2018.

Skidmore drew first blood within the game's first five minutes, but the Bombers responded with 5:44 on the clock when Ethan Adrid cut in from the left wing and fired a shot into the top corner from 20 yards out. Less than a minute later and with game tied 1-1, Brendan Occhino found Cullen Adams to give the Bombers the lead. Skidmore would answer with two more to give the Thoroughbreds a 3-2 lead as the first quarter came to a close.

Early in the second, both teams traded blows. On the period's first possession, Adrid tossed the ball into Occhino, who turned and fizzed it into the bottom corner and a few minutes later Danny Loss assisted Will Kleine to make the score 4-3. Skidmore responded with two goals less than two minutes apart. Then the Bombers began to pull away. Kleine dodged inside for his second goal of the game, then dumped a ball over his shoulder to Occhino, who scored to make it a 6-5 game. Less than a minute later, Adrid whipped a shot into the top of the net off another Loss assist. With 2:41 remaining in the quarter, Adrid cut inside yet again, this time finding Adams who slotted it home to give the Bombers an 8-5 lead going into halftime.

It took just seven seconds for Skidmore to respond in the second half, with an unassisted goal directly out of the third quarter's opening faceoff bringing the score back to 8-6. However, the Bombers would not allow the momentum to shift as Will Kleine completed his hat trick with 11:42 left in the third. Another Skidmore goal was followed by two for the Bombers' Tim Rogers, whose second goal came while they were a man up.

Ithaca took an 11-7 lead into the fourth quarter and would not relinquish it. The Thoroughbreds scored yet another unassisted goal to reduce the Bombers lead to three goals before an uinderhanded effort from Occhino brought things back to 12-8. Skidmore' ninth and final goal came with 7:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Bombers were far from finished offensively. Rogers found Nathan Sabol in transition to extend IC's lead to 13-9. To close the game out, the Bombers worked the ball around the 12 meter fan before Adams found Rogers wide open, who flicked a shot in to complete his hat trick.

Kleine, Occhino, and Rogers all finished the day with three goals and at least one assist, while Adrid led the game with a trio of assists to add onto his two goals. Minard made 17 saves in goal, setting a new season high in the process.

Next up is the Liberty League Championship tournament, which No. 20 Ithaca has earned a first-round bye. The Bombers will have to wait and see who they host in the semifinal round next week.