Ithaca celebrates E8 victory
Fourth-Seeded Ithaca Stuns Top-Seeded St. John Fisher in Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Semifinal
PITTSFORD, N.Y. - The Ithaca men's lacrosse team (8-9) defeated #11 and top-seeded St. John Fisher (16-2) 12-11 in an Empire 8 semifinal game Friday afternoon at Growney Stadium. The Bombers advance to Sunday's Empire 8 championship game at Rochester Institute of Technology at noon. Ithaca is 4-0 all-time in Empire 8 playoff action against the Cardinals, with all four wins coming in the last five years in the semifinal round.
The back-and-forth contest featured no lead larger than two goals by either side. Ithaca led 12-11 late in the fourth quarter and the Cardinals had the ball in the final minute. After Ithaca was whistled for a pushing penalty with 37.6 seconds left to play. St. John Fisher's man-up unit worked behind the cage, and an attacking player stepped in the crease to turn the ball over. Ithaca threw the ball downfield, St. John Fisher was forced to go the length of the field in 11 seconds, and St. John Fisher shot wide with two seconds left.
Ithaca built three one-goal leads in the third quarter of the back-and-forth affair. Fisher's Ryan Schmidt scored an unassisted goal with 5:16 left in the third quarter to put the Cardinals ahead 9-8, but senior midfielder Nic Heckman (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.) answered with 2:48 left in the third, an unassisted goal on a center-lane drive and shot inside the right post. The Bombers went ahead 10-9 on a goal from junior midfielder Jay Lucas (Fox Lane/Bedford Hills) assisted by junior midfielder Ryan Lowe (Fairport/Fairport) with 1:03 left in the quarter. Ithaca never relinquished the lead.
Ithaca extended the margin to two goals early in the fourth quarter with Mike Silipo's (Williston-Northampton/Deerfield, Mass.) 11th goal of the year to make it 11-9 and again on an unassisted goal by sophomore attackman Devin Weinshank (Long Beach/Long Beach) to make it 12-10. After Fisher narrowed the deficit to one goal, Ithaca successfully killed off a man-down situation and junior goalie David Gal (Loomis Chaffee/Amherst, Mass.) made a close-range shoulder save with 2:20 to go to set up the final stretch of the game.
Ithaca took its first lead of the game in the second quarter on the strength of three-straight goals in a span of less than two minutes. Lucas started the rally with a bounced shot and a man-up goal, assisted by Weinshank. Weinshank followed that with another man-up goal to tie the score 4-4 and then Heckman scored an unassisted goal 19 seconds later to put Ithaca ahead for the first time. The Bombers held a 6-5 lead at halftime.
Lucas, Heckman and Weinshank finished the game with three goals each, while Lowe and Lucas had two assists each. The Bombers converted 2-of-4 man-up opportunities in the game. Gal made 11 saves in the game. The Bombers forced 15 turnovers to gain possessions, despite being outdrawn at the faceoff X. Gal and senior midfielder Nick Neuman (Madison West/Madison, Wis.) picked up four ground balls each for the Bombers, and Ithaca was 18-for-22 in clearing attempts.
Ithaca won the regular-season meeting against RIT 10-8 at Upper Terrace Field. RIT is currently ranked 20th in the USILA Division III Poll. Ithaca is seeking its second Empire 8 tournament title, having previously won the championship in 2008 with wins over St. John Fisher and RIT.