The Ithaca College field hockey team faced off against No. 22 University of Rochester on Oct. 11 at Higgins Stadium, in memory of Kyra Feick, striker/back from 2018-19, who died in June at the age of 25.
Feick attended IC for two years before transferring to Northeastern University. Head coach Kaitlyn Wahila said she remembers coaching Feick in just her second year of being a Bomber.
“She was a student athlete who really wanted to have fun, and she brought a really positive energy to everything that we did,” Wahila said. “She impacted our program, but she really, deeply impacted her teammates, and the fact that her teammates were willing to come back and honor her legacy [today] was just really, really meaningful.”
The Bombers paid tribute to Feick in the beginning of the game with a brief mention of her and the teams she was a part of. The crowd roared hearing her name again at IC.
After the brief but powerful tribute was given, the Bombers were off.
The match started with the South Hill squad hounding the Yellowjackets in their zone, applying almost four minutes of continuous pressure on them within the first five minutes of the game. Their early pressure paid off by getting an early corner opportunity at the 10 minute mark of the first quarter.
All of the Bombers’ corner opportunities looked incredibly dangerous throughout the day, getting to the interior of the shooting circle and getting quality looks in front of the net. But junior midfielder Payton Yahner received an excellent pass and ripped a low shot on Rochester senior goalkeeper Kara Houston. Top Liberty League Championship goalkeeper in saves, among other stats, Houston was up to the challenge, moving rather quickly to her left post to make a tremendous kick save, breaking up the first real Bombers chance.
The South Hill squad continued to apply offensive pressure against the Yellowjackets but did not end up finding the back of the net. The Bombers registered three more shots and gained an additional corner in the first.
The Bombers continued applying the pressure in the second quarter, forcing Houston to make three incredible consecutive saves in just a matter of a minute. Things quickly turned the other way with Rochester finally succeeding on a counter-attack and changing the momentum of the game with chances of their own.
It would start with the Bombers ceding a corner to Rochester in the 23rd minute. The Yellowjackets could not capitalize when Rochester first-year midfielder Sophia Cuneo blasted a shot wide from the top of the shooting circle.
The Yellowjackets would finish the half with only three shots, compared to the Bombers’ eight.
At the start of the third, both offensives quit playing conservatively and started overreaching for offensive output, creating for some really back and forth field hockey with both teams giving up possession from far stretch passes. Senior midfielder Eliza Ballaro and junior striker Ainsley Grant led the charge for the Bombers, dribbling the ball between Yellowjacket defenders and creating many opportunities. Despite their efforts, the Bombers were unable to fully move the ball into the Yellowjackets’ zone.
Rochester had similar struggles, only registering one shot and only taking one corner late in the third quarter.
The Bombers finally broke through in the fourth and final quarter, scoring their first goal of the game.
Yahner played smart, forcing the Yellowjackets to make a costly foul mistake and allowing Yahner to come in through the far left side of the Yellowjackets’ shooting circle. She then gave a beautiful pass to junior midfielder Audrey McMahon, who was just waiting to pull the trigger five feet in front of the goal. McMahon slung the shot past Houston for her fifth goal of the year, making her the only Bomber to have more than four goals this season.
McMahon topped her career high of three goals from last season in just 11 games played, all without starting a game this year, showing the work and changes she put in over the offseason.
“I really put in a lot of work this summer and during my summer league,” McMahon said. “One of my priorities was working on my confidence and communication … I feel a change in that, and I have really good teammates.”
McMahon said one of the teammates she admires most is Yahner, who assisted on that goal and has the second most assists on the team this season, with four.
Associate head coach Mo Ordnung said that substitutes have been for the Bombers this season.
“It feels like we have like 15 starters,” Ordnung said. “We have a really deep bench, we have the legs to come on and match the pace that our awesome strength and conditioning staff has done such a good job of making sure that we are all primed and ready to handle.”
The substitutes and the team-first field hockey approach is what has primed the Bombers for a deep postseason run in Fall 2025. Thirteen games into last season, the Bombers’ were 8-5 and in conference play 3-1, this season they are 9-4 and 2-2 in conference play.
The South Hill squad will next face off with the St. Lawrence University Saints at 4 p.m. Oct. 17, back at Higgins Stadium. With just two liberty league games following that, Ithaca College is eyeing back to back titles.
