Ithaca Advances to E8 Championship, Defeats Stevens 15-6
ITHACA, N.Y. – The 18th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team (12-5) advances to the Empire 8 championship game for the fifth straight season with a 15-6 victory over visiting Stevens Institute of Technology (7-10) Saturday at Higgins Stadium. The Bombers will face with winner of the 1:30 p.m. St. John Fisher versus Nazareth semifinal contest.
The teams exchanged goals to open the game before Ithaca posted three straight. Stevens answered with back-to-back goals in a span of 42 seconds. The Bombers rattled off five consecutive to end the half with a 9-3 cushion. Ithaca continued to dominate, outscoring the Ducks 6-3 in the second.
Ithaca, who defeated Stevens 13-6 in the regular season, again held the Ducks to just six goals – a season-low output.
Ithaca was led by six goals, one draw control and five ground balls from sophomore Allison Runyon. Junior Natalie Lang had four points, four draw controls and three ground balls, and freshman midfielder Morgan Cadwell picked up three goals and one assist.
After Ithaca jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, the Ducks received a fortunate goal of their own when an errant pass found the back of the net, bouncing off Bomber goalie Emily Ross.
The Bombers ran off the next three to open a 4-1 edge, but Stevens halted the run with a goal of their own to bring the Ducks within three. Stevens won the ensuing draw and quickly found the back of the net to make it 4-3 with 15:19 left in the first half.
After an Ithaca timeout, the Bombers responded with a 4-0 run to create some space between the two teams with 3:41 left in the opening period.
The Ducks generated several quality looks in the final minutes but were unable to find the back of the net as the Bombers took a 9-3 margin into the intermission.
The Bombers opened the second-half scoring to make it a 6-0 run to bridge the first and second half, but Stevens made it a 10-4 contest with more than 19 minutes to play in regulation.
Ithaca ran off a pair to extend the margin to eight at 12-4, with Stevens putting away another shot to bring the Ducks back within seven goals.
That would be as close as the Ducks could get, eventually falling by a final score of 15-6.
Kara Rafferty finished the contest with five points on three goals and two assists, five draw controls and one caused turnover for Stevens. Kathleen Kalbian had eight draw controls, two ground balls, one goal and one caused turnover. Erica Wilcox had one goal and one assist.
Ithaca finished the game with a 30-20 margin in shots and a 26-13 cushion in ground balls. The Ducks won 15-of-23 draw controls and each squad totaled seven saves. Junior
Mel Welcome made the seven denials for the Ducks, with Ross making seven for the Bombers.