The Ithaca College women’s lacrosse team returned to Higgins Stadium Feb. 25 for the first game of their 2024 season. After a fierce competition against the University of Scranton Royals, the Bombers took home their first win after defeating the Royals 13–9 to give them a 1–0 start on the season.
The first quarter was a battlefield at Higgins Stadium. The quarter ended with the Royals leading 2–0 against the Bombers. While the Bombers started off fast and strong, there was trouble keeping the ball in the stick toward the end. However, regardless of the two goals in net, the Bombers’ defense held up strong rushing to the ball and senior goalkeeper Lexi Held had four saves.
Things went uphill for the Bombers when junior attacker Maddie Hall scored the first goal for the Bombers during a free position attempt. Minutes later, sophomore attacker Lily Cody tied the score 2–2. Although, with two minutes left, the Royals made the score 3–2 to end the first half.
During the third quarter, the Bombers started to make a comeback. The Bombers scored seven goals and ended the quarter leading 9–5.
Senior attacker Maizy Veitch scored her first goal of her senior season and made a habit of maintaining possession throughout the quarter. Senior midfielder Caroline Wise also took a strong shot to the back of the net helping the Bombers gain the lead. Along with Veitch’s goal, Cody achieved a hat–trick performance after scoring two goals in the quarter. Cody emphasized the importance of this win and said it was teamwork that made all the goals achievable.
“It was a huge team win, and the way we all wrecked for each other was what made those goals happen,” Cody said. “It was a great way to kick off the season and I’m looking forward to playing with this talented group of girls this year.”
Along with Cody, senior midfielder Sydney Phillips also scored three goals during the game to achieve her first hat-trick of the year. Phillips devoted her success to her teammates and said her hat-trick performance would not be possible if it wasn’t for them.
“As for my shots, they weren’t really falling early on but I was sure to make adjustments, my teammates had my back, and I wouldn’t have had those scoring opportunities without them,” Phillips said.
During the fourth quarter, vigorous effort and intensity was shown by both teams but the Royals started to lose confidence as the Bombers had possession for most of the quarter.
After much back and forth play, the Bombers came out on top 13–9.
Phillips shared her thoughts after the team’s first win of the season. After not being in the top 25 preseason rankings, Phillips said it was a good way to start the season.
“It felt good to get our first win after not getting a preseason rank,” Phillips said. “Offensively, we didn’t start off how we wanted, but made some strong adjustments at half, and our defense really had our backs.”
For their next matchup, the Bombers will face the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles at 2 p.m. March 2 in Brockport, New York.
