Higgins Stadium was packed for a Liberty League matchup between Ithaca College women’s lacrosse and Union College on March 30. Luckily, the Bombers avenged a loss from last season and dominated the game to achieve an 11–9 victory.
The first quarter ended with the Bombers leading 3–2. The Bombers offense came ready to win with speed and high intensity throughout the whole quarter.
Senior midfielder Sydney Phillips scored the first goal for the Bombers and the goals did not stop there. Phillips said although they let up some goals that could have been prevented, they still earned the win.
“Offensively, we needed to convert more on our possessions and value the ball and really have our defenses back,” Phillips said. “But at the end of the day, that’s a stop on our revenge tour and we’re happy to come out with a win.”
The second quarter was raining yellow cards as the Dutchwomen were getting physical with the Bombers offense. Three yellow cards were issued to three different Dutchwomen players for slapping their sticks on the head of two Bombers’ players, while the last one went to the Dutchwomen for a hard push to the ground.
Phillips said in terms of fouls, she knows the team can only control its own side of things.
“As for the physicality, yellow cards are never something you like to see, but for us we just gotta control what we can control,” Phillips said. “When the other team swings, we gotta stay disciplined and get the looks we want. We can only do so much when the other team is fouling aside from maintaining our composure and not getting too caught up in the emotion of it.”
The end of the second quarter was filled with even more intensity than the last, since the Bombers seemed to upset the Dutchwomen. With only half a second left in the second quarter, refs were arguing with the Dutchwomen’s head coach whether their goal counted, which it ultimately did not. With junior midfielder Liz Green and senior midfielder Caroline Wise scoring two more goals for the Bombers, they ended the half with the Bombers up 5–3.
In the third and fourth quarters, senior attacker Maizy Veitch and Phillips were very active. Phillips scored four times in this game with Veitch scoring once. The crowd went wild when Wise made a behind-the-back secret pass to Veitch who then passed to Phillips, who took the shot and made it.
The Dutchwomen came back with the intent to win and not leave Higgins with a loss. The Dutchwomen scored two more times in quarter three, with another four times in quarter four. However, this was not enough as Phillips scored the Bombers last two goals in the fourth quarter and took home the well deserved 11–9 win.
The next stop for the Bombers will be against Clarkson University at 4 p.m. April 5 in Potsdam, New York.
