Ithaca Knocks Off Nazareth 13-8 To Reach Final of Empire 8 Women's Lacrosse Championship
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The top-seeded women's lacrosse team (11-5) beat #22 Nazareth (10-6) 13-8 in Saturday's first semifinal of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament. The host Bombers will face either second-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology at noon Sunday in the tournament final with the Empire 8's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs at stake.
The Golden Flyers scored the game’s opening goal just 12 seconds in, but a 9-0 Bomber run put Ithaca in control for good. Five Bombers scored during that stretch, including sophomore Nicole Boreisenok (Watervliet/Albany Academy for Girls), who scored all of her team-high four goals in the decisive run. Junior Catherine Hurley (Honeoye Falls-Lima/Honeoye Falls) and sophomore Kylie McClure (Upper Arlington/Columbus, Ohio) tallied goals 75 seconds apart to put Ithaca up to stay. Borisenok scored back-to-back goals, then the Bombers extended their lead to 7-1 on goals by freshman Michelle Avery (Brien McMahon/Norwalk, Conn.), junior Alison DeCirce (Binghamton/Binghamton) and senior Lauren Fitzgerald (William H. Hall/West Hartford, Conn.) before Borisenok capped the run with her 36th and 37th goals of the season.
Nazareth senior Nora Davis (Bishop Ludden/Syracuse) scored the last goal of the first period and opened the second-half scoring with another goal, but Bomber goals from Fitzgerald and freshman Kimberly Armbruster (Montville/Boonton, N.J.) gave Ithaca its eight-goal lead back.
Three Golden Flyer goals – including two by senior Jennifer Young (Marcellus/Marcellus) – and a pair of Nazareth goals that closed out the game were sandwiched around a pair of goals by DeCirce.
Ithaca’s offensive dominance led to a 36-19 advantage in shots. Senior
Ann Sessler (Cazenovia/Cazenovia) -- pictured at right --
made 14 saves for the Golden Flyers. Freshman
Alyssa Johnston (Canandagua Academy/Canandaigua)
recorded game-high totals of five ground balls and five caused turnovers. Senior
Courtney Dowell (Massapequa/Massapequa)
made eight saves for the Bombers, who’ll be playing in the conference final for the fifth time in the eight years the event has been held.