Ithaca Advances to Empire 8 Final with 11-6 Win Over Nazareth
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The fourth-seeded Ithaca College women's lacrosse team defeated top-seeded Nazareth College, 11-6, in the Empire 8 semi-final game. Ithaca's win improves their overall record to 11-7, while Nazareth falls to 12-4 overall.
The Bombers advance to play the winner of the St. John Fisher vs. Stevens semifinal, which is set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, in the championship game on Sunday. The championship is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Nazareth's turf field.
The Bombers never trailed over 60 minutes of play against the Golden Flyers.
To build its overwhelming lead, Ithaca drew twice as many free position opportunities, and the Bombers converted three of four chances in each half.
Junior
Riley Marion ignited the Bombers' offense with a free-position goal at 27:13 in the first half. Nazareth's Kate Rothrock went on to tie the game, 1-1, with 24:32 left in the first half.
About three minutes after Rothrock's goal, Ithaca's Morgan Cadwell drove through the Golden Flyers' defense to reclaim the Bombers' lead. Eighty-six seconds later, Natalie Lang scored when the Nazareth defender slipped. Lang ended up with an uncontested lane to the goal. Ally Runyon stretched Ithaca's lead to 4-1 with about 14 minutes to play in the first half.
Facing the three-goal deficit, junior
Carly Gates and Brooke Sullivan each scored on drives toward the Ithaca net. The goals were separated by only 2:25. The Golden Flyers had a chance to tie the score when Nazareth's attack forced a turnover deep in the Bombers' zone. The ensuing shot, however, was off the mark.
With three goals in the final 4:48 of the half, Ithaca stretched its lead to 7-3 at the break.
In the first 10:48 of the second half, the Golden Flyers scored two of the first three goals to trim the deficit to 8-5. Sullivan converted a free position shot after Ithaca's goalie, Emily Ross, was whistled for a foul. Haley DeVona scored Nazareth's second goal of the period after splitting a pair of Bombers' defenders. Moments before DeVona's goal, Sullivan had a shot find the inside of the right post. Ithaca was whistled for a foul, however, and the goal did not count. Nazareth was awarded a free position chance that Ross saved.
As Nazareth tried to rally, Runyon converted two free position chances to extend Ithaca's lead to 10-5. Runyon entered the game with a team-high 63 points on 51 goals and 12 assists. As the Golden Flyers pressured the Bombers, Marion added her second goal of the game with 4:56 to play to stretch Ithaca's lead to six goals. DeVona scored in the final minute for the five-goal margin.
The Bombers finished with advantages in total shots (27-20), ground balls (26-16, and draw controls (10-9).
Ross finished with seven saves for the victory and Ashley Kirch made 10 saves for the Golden Flyers in the loss.
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