Ithaca Secures Top Seed; Naz Wins at Home
Ithaca 13, Hartwick 8
The 16th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team (10-4, 6-0 Empire 8) secured the top seed in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament with a 13-8 victory at Hartwick (5-10, 0-6 Empire 8) Saturday afternoon.
The Bombers posted eight unanswered goals in the first 11 minutes of the game en route to a 9-5 lead at intermission. Ithaca outscored Hartwick 4-3 in the second half for their ninth straight win. Ithaca has won 20 consecutive Empire 8 games, having not lost an E8 contest since the 2011 season.
Sophomore
Ally Runyon scored a career-high six points on five goals and an assist to lead the Bombers. Classmate
Riley Marion added a hat trick and an assist. Senior
Becky Guzzo dished out a pair of assists and chipped in one score.
Juniors
Natalie Lang,
Molly Fischer and
Ali Woller and freshman
Morgan Cadwell had one score each. Sophomore
Mackenzie Robinson and junior
Emily Peters had one assist apiece.
Fischer forced a career-best four turnovers and Marion had three caused turnovers. Lang and Runyon won three draws each. Junior
Delaney Gilson and Lang each scooped up five ground balls. Fischer, Marion and senior
Anya Eckhardt had four each.
Freshman
Emily Ross made three saves in goal.
The Bombers outshot the Hawks 38-15 and collected 37 ground balls to the Hawks' 22. Ithaca won 14 of the 23 draws.
Nazareth 16, Elmira 7
Host Nazareth surged to a 12-3 halftime lead Saturday and cruised to a 16-7 women's lacrosse triumph over Elmira in an Empire 8 Conference game.
The Golden Flyers won for the third time in their last four games to improve to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in conference games. The Golden Flyers can clinch a conference playoff berth with a victory Wednesday at Alfred at 7 p.m. Elmira dropped to 5-9 overall and 2-4 in the Empire 8.
Junior
Brooke Sullivan scored three goals and added an assist to boost her team-leading point total to 34 on 28 goals and six assists. Senior
Amy McIntosh and sophomore
Carly Gates also scored three times each and freshman
Kate Rothrock had two goals and two assists. Senior
Kelsey McNaboe scored twice and freshman
Hayley Spoljaric netted her first career goal. Junior
Brianna Mancini and freshman
Gabrielle Charles also scored.
McIntosh scored twice in the first 10 minutes of play as Nazareth opened a 4-0 lead. Gates and
Kate Rothrock also scored in the opening flurry. After Elmira scored, Charles delivered on a free-position shot with 12:30 left in the first half.
Sullivan's first goal of the game came with 11:11 left as Nazareth closed the half by scoring seven of the last eight goals to go up 12-3. Mancini and Spoljaric followed with goals before Elmira's Moorea Spoljaric (Hayley's older sister) scored her second of three goals. McNaboe scored both of her goals in the last three minutes, while Sullivan and Gates each scored before the half ended. Junior
Suzie Gray had a stretch of three straight assists.
The second half was more methodical as Nazareth scored four more times to keep the clock running.
Kate Rothrock scored less than two minutes into the half and then assisted on McIntosh's third goal of the game at 24:12. Gates and Sullivan each converted free-position shots to close out the Nazareth scoring.
Nazareth had a 33-20 edge in shots and a 20-15 advantage in ground balls. Sullivan won five of Nazareth's 13 draw controls. Senior
Tara Prosak made three saves before being replaced late in the game by junior
Ashley Kirch, who made two saves.
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Ithaca |
6-0 |
10-4 |
|
St. John Fisher |
4-1 |
9-4 |
|
Stevens |
4-1 |
6-7 |
|
Nazareth |
3-2 |
6-7 |
|
Utica |
3-3 |
8-4 |
|
Elmira |
2-4 |
5-9 |
|
Hartwick |
0-6 |
5-10 |
|
Houghton |
0-0 |
4-8 |
|
Alfred |
0-5 |
1-9 |
|
Houghton is an NCAA provisional member and games against the Highlanders will not impact conference records/standings.
|