The Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team could not pick up any momentum against one of the best defenses in the Liberty League, falling well short to the No. 4 St. Lawrence University Saints 15–4 on April 13, putting the Bombers in the bottom of the Liberty League standings.
The Saints offense began its march early on, as sophomore attacker Cam Croasdaile nailed a left-handed wrister past Bombers graduate student goaltender Cole Corrigan to open the game. After this, the game started to slow down but Saints’ senior attacker Judge Murphy laid down the law as he looped around the net and flicked the rubber into the cage to hand his squad an early 2–0 lead with eight minutes to go in the first quarter.
The Bombers offense was ice cold for most of the first quarter, only getting one shot on goal to the man with the best save percentage in the Liberty League – Saints junior goaltender Michael Marinello who leads the conference with a .628.
On the contrary, the Saints’ offense was red hot. Senior attacker Ben Hutchinson scored four goals in a row as the first quarter winded down to extend the lead to 6–0. Soon after, junior midfielder Zack Corsi added one more onto Hutchinson’s flurry of goals to push the lead to 7–0 at the end of the first.
As the second quarter began, the Saints continued to give the Bombers’ defense nightmares. Junior midfielder Bobby Wells scored his 10th goal of the season to increase the lead even further.
With 9:40 left to go in the half, Bombers senior attacker Charlie Niebuhr erased the donut on the right side of the scoreboard and lowered the deficit to 8–1.
Murphy quickly answered Niebuhrs’ goal and got his second past Corrigan. The Saints offense continued to pour it down on Corrigan as Croasdaile recorded his second goal of the game to widen the lead to 10–1.
The Bombers ended the first half strong, as sophomore long stick midfielder Jace Dockx launched his first goal of the season from near midfield with less than a second left on the game clock. The Bombers finally got some momentum, trailing 10–3 with thirty minutes left to play.
Dockx was proud of his impressive goal and said that it was something good in an otherwise defeating game.
“It was a 35-yard ripper, that always feels good,” Dockx said.
The Bombers momentum rolled on to start the second half, with sophomore midfielder Cullen Adams scoring the opening goal that made its way past Marinello to make it 10–4. Murphy stopped that momentum with 8:45 in the third, earning himself a hat trick to hand the Saints an 11–4 lead over the Bombers. The Saints started to find their rhythm midway through the third, with Hutchinson getting his fifth past Corrigan.
Hutchinson continued to break the hearts of the Bombers fans at Higgins Stadium, whipping his sixth through the net to give the men in red 13 goals in the afternoon as the third quarter clock hit triple zeroes.
The fourth quarter started with fast-paced offensive chances on both sides but Corrigan and Marinello stood on their heads until first-year midfielder Asa Beach got his first goal of the season to give the Saints a double-digit lead.
After a slow fourth quarter, first-year attacker Daniel Mahoney put the finishing touch on the Saints lead, scoring the final goal with 2:32 left in the game. The men in red were able to kill the clock after that and the Saints marched out of Higgins Stadium with a 15–4 victory.
As the Bombers look ahead to their biggest foe in SUNY Cortland, junior attacker Kyle Proctor said how this game is about proudly representing Ithaca College more than anything else.
“This game honestly means everything,” Proctor said. “It’s just about school pride and that dragons aren’t real.”
The Bombers and the Red Dragons will face off at 7 p.m. April 17 at Higgins Stadium.
