Ithaca Snaps RIT's 52-game Regular-Season Winning Streak
HENRIETTA, N.Y. —Senior
Scott Sidnam made nine fourth-quarter saves and finished with 17 saves as the nationally-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team extended its school-record winning streak to 11 with an 18-16 road win over RIT Tuesday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.
In a showdown between top 10 schools, No. 8 Ithaca (13-1) snapped No. 2 RIT's (12-1) 52-game regular-season winning streak and earned its first win over the Tigers since a 10-8 win on April 10, 2010.
Junior
Jack Shumway scored a career-high six goals, sophomore
Jake Cotton recorded six points on two goals with four assists, and junior
John Januszkiewicz added five points on two goals with three assists.
Sophomore
Kaelan Fitzpatrick added one goal with three assists, sophomore
Stephen Morrell added three goals, and senior
Eli Gobrecht collected seven groundballs and added a goal with an assist as Ithaca eclipsed 15 goals in a game for the 13th time in 14 games.
An aggressive Bomber defense forced the Tigers into 11 first-half turnovers, including eight in the first quarter alone.
The Bombers took a 15-12 lead into the final quarter. Cotton set up Morrell for a 16-13 IC lead with 12:09 remaining.
After an RIT goal, Fitzpatrick tacked on an unassisted goal with 8:57 remaining for a 17-13 Bomber lead. Sidnam repeatedly turned away point-blank shots from the Tigers to preserve the lead.
RIT got a goal back when Ryan Lee (four goals, one assist) scored with 5:12 to play. Sidnam then proceeded to make four straight saves, and Shumway scored off a feed from Fitzpatrick for an 18-14 advantage with 2:38 remaining.
The Tigers answered with back-to-back tallies to claw within 18-16, but the Bombers held on for the win.
Januszkiewicz and Shumway collected four groundballs apiece, as did sophomores
Steven Landspurg and
Winston Wenham for IC, which won despite winning only 12 of 38 faceoffs against the Tigers.
Ithaca trailed 2-0 after the Tigers scored a pair of goals in the opening three minutes of play. Unfazed, the Bombers answered with five unanswered goals in a span of 6:49. Morrell started the run, scoring from the doorstep off a feed from Fitzpatrick with 10:53 remaining in the opening stanza.
Sophomore
Greg Drillock converted off a pass from Cotton to tie the game at 2 with 8:32 remaining, then Gobrecht scored on a shot from midfield for IC's first lead, 3-2 with 5:43 left in the first.
Shumway then connected on a pair of shots one minute apart to push the Bomber lead to 5-2 with 4:04 remaining in the first. Freshman
Josh Della Puca assisted on the first tally while Januszkiewicz set up Shumway's second goal.
RIT got one goal back less than a minute later, but Januszkiewicz buried a shot late in the quarter as the Bombers took a 6-3 lead into the second.
Neither team scored in the first 4:24 of the second quarter until Januszkiewicz assisted on Cotton's tally that put the Bombers up 7-3. RIT rattled off three straight goals before Cotton found senior
Michael Walker for a man-up goal and an 8-6 lead with 8:27 remaining.
The teams traded goals with Shumway scoring off an assist from Januszkiewicz to re-establish a two-goal Bomber lead. After a Tiger turnover, 35 seconds later Della Puca spun and, as he was being dragged to the ground, he bounced in a goal to give Ithaca a 10-7 lead with 6:26 remaining.
The teams traded goals, each scoring three times over the final six minutes of the half with Januszkiewicz scoring and Shumway adding a pair of goals 29 seconds apart to close out the quarter.
The two teams combined for 14 second-quarter goals. Shumway scored three times in the second, while Januszkiewicz added a goal with two assists as IC led 13-10 after 30 minutes of play. Shumway totaled five goals and Januszkiewicz recorded two goals with three assists in the opening half.
The 13 first-half goals by the Bombers were the most RIT's defense had allowed in a game to date.
Morrell dodged, drove and scored an unassisted goal five minutes into the third for a 14-10 lead. The Tigers got a goal back when Lee scored with 6:32 remaining, and neither team scored for a five-minute stretch until, off a turnover, Drillock set up Cotton's goal with 1:51 remaining. The Bombers took a 15-12 lead into the final quarter.
RIT's persistent attack kept at it throughout the fourth, and Chad Levick had a wide-open shot on goal, but Sidnam denied the scoring opportunity. After Shumway was stoned on a point-blank shot, Sidnam answered with a big denial on Lee's point-blank shot to keep the score 16-13 in favor of Ithaca, and the Bombers held on for their third win over a nationally-ranked team.