Last season, the women’s lacrosse team had to pull off upsets against the No. 1 Nazareth College and No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology to win the Empire 8 Championship. This year, the South Hill squad is no longer the underdog.

Ranked first in the Empire 8 preseason poll, the Bombers will have to rely on a strong crop of underclassmen to fill the role of two of Ithaca’s top scorers of all time, which they lost to to graduation. Junior captain Kassie Garfield said her teammates are ready to take over the vacancies left by the outgoing seniors.

“The senior class last year was a very strong class who we all miss,” she said. “But we have a lot of young players who are very willing to step into their shoes and definitely have the ability.”

With such a young team, it will be up to the three seniors and a strong junior class to lead the Blue and Gold if they hope to return to the NCAA tournament. With such a small senior class, the juniors will also to have to step into larger roles off the field. Sophomore midfielder Ali DeCirce said there are leaders on both sides of the ball.

She said on attack, senior captain Becky Bedard makes sure all of the offensive players are working well together. On defense, DeCirce said junior goalie Courtney Dowell centers the backfield as a unit.

Waiting to try to dethrone the reigning conference champions are rivals St. John Fisher College and Stevens, which are still smarting from last year’s upsets to end the season. The Cardinals lost two-time conference player of the year Laurie Quackenbush but return four all-conference selections. The Ducks will also return three first-team all-conference players.

DeCirce said she is excited to see how the season plays out because of how even every team is in talent.

“We can expect intense games and maybe some upsets of ranked teams,” she said. “To be successful, the team members just have to trust themselves as well as each other, and we will go very far.”

In order to reach their goals of defending the Empire 8 title and advancing further into the NCAA playoffs, the Bombers have to keep themselves focused on and off the field and play to their full capabilities. Junior attack Kylie McClure said this team has the opportunity to be better than last year’s championship squad.

“We need to play to our full potential,” she said. “We have the ability to do some great things. As long as we focus and work hard every day, we will be able to reach all of our goals.”

The upstart team was able to shock the conference last year with its victories in the Empire 8 Championship tournament. This year, it won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. Dowell said now that the Blue and Gold have won the tournament, the rest of the conference will be focused on beating them.

“We know the other teams are out to get us because we’re the defending Empire 8 Champions,” she said. “We want to prove to everybody that the Ithaca women’s lacrosse program is a force to be reckoned with.”