Ithaca Falls to No. 9 Salisbury 15-8 in NCAA Third Round
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The 17
th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team had its NCAA Tournament run come to an end on Saturday, as the Bombers fell to ninth-ranked Salisbury 15-8 in the Third Round. The game brings to a conclusion the Bombers' furthest run in the NCAA Tournament in program history.
The highlight of the day came from fifth-year senior attacker
Ally Runyon, who scored a game-high four goals to add two more program records to her amazing collegiate career. The four points helped her pass Tracy Rivas '14 for first all-time on the program's career scoring list with 252 points. She also tied Julie Stone for the single-season points record, finishing the season with 84 points. Stone also scored 84 in 1993.
Senior midfielder
Morgan Cadwell posted a three-point effort, scoring twice and adding an assist. She also finished with two draw controls and a ground-ball. Freshman
Bailey Herr and sophomore
Elizabeth Rice also added one goal apiece for Ithaca.
Rounding out the point scoring for IC was seniors
Gaby Berne and
Morgan Racicot, who both finished with two assists. The two helpers brought Racicot's career total to 78, ranking third-best all-time in program history.
Defensively, the Bombers forced four caused turnovers. Juniors
Molly Long and
Kimberly Presuto each finished with a forced Salisbury miscue, while Runyon and Herr also picked up one caused turnover each. Sophomore
Allie Panara finished with three draw controls, while classmate
Reid Simoncini finished with two ground-balls. Junior
Elizabeth Sauer and sophomore
Maeve Cambria also added two ground-balls apiece.
Presuto got the nod in the Ithaca cage, finishing the season with an 11-5 record. She made four saves and collected three ground-balls in the defeat.
Much like the Wesleyan contest last Sunday, the Bombers were hit by an early flurry in Saturday's contest against Salisbury. The Gulls tallied twice in the opening 1:27 of game action to take an early 2-0 lead. Salisbury's leading scorer got the first, ripping home 35
th goal off the rush 26-seconds into the game. Emma Wall added a second 1:01 later to double the advantage.
After Salisbury added another to make it 3-0, Cadwell got the Bombers on the board with great individual goal. Taking possession at the top of the fan, she made an excellent deke to duck under an oncoming defender, before whipping a bounce shot into the upper right corner of the cage. The tally cut the deficit to 3-1 with 26:07 left in the opening frame.
Unfortunately, the Gulls early flourish continued with 20-minutes left in the half. Kristen Murphy fired home a shot just inside the right post, while Lindsey Wagner made the score 5-1 in favor of Salisbury just 1:04 later to widen the gap to four goals with 19:02 remaining.
Runyon answered the two-goal run with her first of the game to cut into the deficit once again with 17:23 left. Receiving a great pass from Racicot through traffic just on top of the crease, she fired a shot into the cage despite being surrounded by Salisbury defenders. The goal was her 70
th of the season, becoming the first IC women's player to hit the milestone.
The Bombers had opportunities to further cut into the deficit, but Salisbury's keeper was rock solid in the first half. Falcone denied Cadwell, sophomore
Allie Panara and sophomore
Elizabeth Rice on free-position shots in the opening half to keep IC off the board during the middle portions of the half.
Salisbury's quick strike offense pushed its advantage to a half-high five-goal lead with two scores in the final three minutes. Hannah Young converted on a feed from Kristen Murphy with 2:31 to play, while Lindsey Wagner finished off a feed overtop of the net with a one-time pop shot to make it 7-2 with just 1:07 left.
The Bombers showed their classic resilience to get a big answering goal with 22-seconds left. Holding possession at the top of the extended fan, Cadwell hit Herr with a perfect pass as the latter found acres of space just above Salisbury's crease. The freshman made a patient play to wait out Falcone, before slipping a nifty backhand shot into the twine. With the goal, the Bombers trailed 7-3 heading into the half.
The Gulls potent attack continued to beleaguer Ithaca during the early portions of the second half. Wagner, King and Young each netted goals to widen the edge to six goals. Young's second score of the game made it 10-4 with 22:27 left.
Highlighting the second half for IC was the play of Runyon who scored twice in the first 8:33 to further stamp her place in the Ithaca record books. She finished off excellent feeds from Racicot and Berne to score her 16
th hat trick of the season. The two goals brought her career total to 251 points, tying Tracy Rivas '14 for the program record. Runyon netted her record-setting point on a free-position goal with 15:41 remaining in the game. The goal made the score 12-6 with half of the frame left to stage a comeback.
Despite facing a big mountain to climb, Ithaca never stopped battling down the stretch. IC cut the gap back to five goals with 10:44 to play. After Cadwell was hauled down in the box, she received a free-position opportunity from straight away. She cashed in on the opportunity, sliding a shot inside the lower right of the goal.
The Bombers added another 1:35 later when Rice tallied her first goal in four games and just her fifth of the season. Receiving a great feed from Berne, she made a patient play to pump fake, sending Falcone off-balance, before whipping a shot into the vacated cage. The goal cut the Salisbury lead to 12-8 with 9:09 remaining.
Ithaca had an opportunity to further carve into the Gulls lead; however, a turnover extinguished the Ithaca threat. The Gulls went on to score three successive goals with the Ithaca defense taking risks in order to cause a turnover. The three-goal run helped Salisbury pull away to the final margin at 15-8.
Ithaca concludes the year with a 14-5 record.