Ithaca Men's Lacrosse Advances into Empire 8 Championship
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
ITHACA, N.Y. —The nationally-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team advanced into the championship of the Empire 8 postseason tournament thanks to a 17-6 win over St. John Fisher College on a rainy Wednesday afternoon at Higgins Stadium.
Top-seeded Ithaca (17-1) extended its school-record winning streak to 15 games and tied the school record for most wins in a season with the victory over No. 4 Fisher (8-9).
Junior
Jack Shumway and sophomore
Jake Cotton each tallied seven points, while senior All-American defender
Eli Gobrecht caused five turnovers and scooped up four groundballs to power the Bombers.
Shumway scored five goals with two assists in equaling his career-high for points in a game, and Cotton added four goals with three assists to set a career-high for points in the win. Freshman
Conner Crosson scored three goals, and sophomore
Stephen Morrell added one goal with two assists to spark Ithaca, ranked No. 1 in the country by both the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and Nike/Lacrosse Magazine.
Junior
John Januszkiewicz added two goals and classmate
Grant Osadchey collected a career-high 11 groundballs while winning 68.4 percent of faceoffs (13 of 19) in the semifinal.
The Bombers matched the 2008 squad (17-3) for most wins in a season while advancing into the conference championship for the fifth straight year.
Ithaca will now host No. 3 Stevens (14-4), a 21-18 winner over No. 2 Nazareth, in the Empire 8 championship game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The winner of the postseason tournament earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
The Bombers last won the conference championship in 2014, winning a first-round NCAA game before falling in the second round.
"We'll be ready for anything that Stevens throws at us," Cotton said. "We're getting better every day defensively, offensively, and with our transition game. We all love coming to practice every day and we love playing in high-stakes games. We have another one Saturday and we can't wait."
Against Fisher, Ithaca enjoyed a 52-24 edge in shots and a 31-19 advantage in groundballs.
Senior
Scott Sidnam improved to 17-1 in the cage after making six saves while allowing three goals in 53 minutes of action.
IC raced out to a 9-0 lead after 25 minutes of play as the Bomber defense, led by Gobrecht, senior
Andrew Dietz, and sophomores
Keith Morrissey and
Winston Wenham held the Cardinals scoreless for the first 24:20.
Cotton and Crosson scored two goals during the run while Shumway, Januszkiewicz, Morrell, sophomore
Greg Drillock and freshman
Josh Della Puca added tallies for Ithaca.
Fisher scored three straight goals over the end of the second and beginning of the third quarters to cut into the Ithaca lead, but the Bombers responded with a 7-0 run to seize control for good.
Shumway scored four times in a span of 11:13 bridging the third and fourth quarters, while Cotton added two goals with three assists and Januszkiewicz had a goal as IC took a 16-3 lead with 9:42 remaining in the fourth.
Up next for the Bombers is a rematch with Stevens. Ithaca defeated then-No. 16 Stevens 17-7 on April 2.
"This time of year you want to make sure you're playing your best lacrosse all the time," Shumway said after equaling his career high of seven points in a game.
"The second time around is going to be harder, Stevens will know us better and we will know them better. We can't expect anything else from an Empire 8 championship except grit and toughness. Everyone has to bring their mental 'A' game and it's going to come down to who wants it more. We can't wait to get out there and play for the championship."