Ithaca Scores Season-High Seven Goals In Win Over Hartwick
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The women's soccer team (11-2-0, 7-0-0), ranked seventh by the NSCAA and 18th by D3soccer.com, remained atop the Empire 8 standings with a 7-0 win over visiting Hartwick (5-7-2, 2-3-2 Empire 8) Wednesday, setting up a first-place showdown Saturday against Nazareth. The winner clinches the Empire 8 regular-season title and the right to host next month's Empire 8 Championship Tournament. The Bombers clinched a berth in the four-team tournament with the win.
Sophomore Rachael Palladino (Lansing/Lansing) recorded her second hat trick of the season to lead the Bombers and raised her season totals to 18 goals and 40 points; she's matched the program's second-highest single-season goal total and third-highest point total and is two goals and four points away from school records in both categories.
The Bombers have now won 23 straight over the Hawks, posting 17 shutouts in their last 18 meetings.
Sophomore Julie Winn (Sutton/Sutton, Mass.) scored a career-best two goals and freshman Ellyn Grant-Keane (Lansing/Lansing) notched a personal-high two assists. Freshman Jackie Rodabaugh (Central Mountain/Mill Hall, Pa.) added two assists as well. Grant-Keane's team-best are one more than Palladino's Bomber freshman record from last fall.
Senior Kelly Gannon (Schoharie/Howe Caverns) scored her first goal of the season late in the first half and freshman Ericka Ilkanich (Chagrin Falls/Chagrin Falls, Ohio) closed out the scoring with the first goal of her career.
Palladino opened the scoring 2:42 in, peppering Hartwick's goalkeeper with a pair of shots from close range; both were saved but the rebound of the second shot squirted to the left of the keeper where Palladino pushed it in. She and Grant-Keane combined for Ithaca's third goal in the 33rd minute; Grant-Keane brought the ball down the right side, drawing two defenders, and passed to the middle of the field where Palladino sent a rocket past the goalkeeper.
Midway through the second half, Palladino finished her hat trick, taking a pass from Rodabaugh and carrying into the box. When the goalkeeper came out to challenge, Palladino snuck the ball past her and tapped it into the net.
Palladino has now recorded 30 goals and 71 points in 36 career matches; she ranks seventh and eighth, respectively on Ithaca's all-time lists.
Rodabaugh's eight assists match Grant-Keane for the team lead. Both assisted on one of Winn's goals.
Gannon took a long pass from freshman Anna Gray (Delmar/Bethlehem) and chipped a high shot over the Hawk goalkeeper to put Ithaca up 4-0 68 seconds before halftime.
Ilkanich's first goal was assisted by junior Katie Simon (Columbia/East Schodack), who picked up the first point of her career on the play.
Three goalkeepers shared the shutout for Ithaca, who outshot Hartwick 26-4. Senior Jessica Platt (Monument Mountain/New Marlborough, Mass.) made the Bombers' only two saves.