After improving its national ranking to No. 8, the Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team defeated No. 2–ranked Rochester Institute of Technology 18–16 for its 11th consecutive win. The Bombers are now 13–1 this season going into their final three games of the regular season.
This was the closest game the Bombers have played since their March 30 victory over SUNY Cortland, and that was apparent by the fact that while they led for most of the game, they never had more than a four-goal lead.
The Tigers got the action started in the first quarter with the inaugural two goals of the game from senior attackman Kyle Sterzin and senior midfielder Braden Wallace. The South Hill squad bounced back with five straight goals, starting with sophomore midfielders Stephen Morrell and Greg Drillock, one from senior defenseman Eli Gobrecht, and then junior attackman Jack Shumway scored two of his game-leading six goals in the span of one minute.
Senior midfielder Alec Sulesky of RIT scored the third goal of the game for his team, and then junior captain John Januszkiewicz closed out the quarter with another goal for the Bombers.
Each team scored seven goals in the second quarter. Five minutes into the quarter, sophomore attackman Jake Cotton sent one through the pipes for his 29th goal of the season to increase the Bombers lead to 7–3. RIT responded with three goals over the course of 18 seconds, two from junior attackman Chad Levick and one from junior attackman Ryan Lee.
Senior midfielder and captain Michael Walker took some momentum back for the Blue and Gold when he scored on a man-up opportunity and the two teams spent the rest of the quarter exchanging goals. The Bombers went into the half with a 13–10 lead.
Each team only netted two goals in the third quarter, as both teams increased their defensive pressure. After five minutes and eight seconds of no scoring, Morrell scored to give the Bombers a four-goal lead. Three minutes and 20 seconds of scoreless play later, Lee answered for the Tigers to cut the lead back to three.
Almost another five minutes elapsed before Cotton scored again with one minute and 51 seconds left in the quarter. Wallace ended the quarter with a goal for RIT to keep the Bombers’ lead at three goals.
Sterzin kicked off the fourth quarter with a goal for RIT, which was quickly countered by two goals from Morrell and sophomore attackman Kaelan Fitzpatrick for the Bombers. Lee tried to start a late comeback for the Tigers with his fourth goal of the game, but Shumway responded with a goal of his own. Levick scored two goals at the end of the game to cut the Bombers’ lead to two goals, but that is where it would remain.
Senior goalie Scott Sidnam picked up another, as he put up 17 teams saves in the game, three shy of his career-high.
The Bombers return to action at 1 p.m. April 23 when they travel to Alfred, New York, to take on the Alfred University Saxons.
