The Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team opened up its home season with a down to the wire 9-8 win against the Nazareth University Golden Flyers on March 4 at Higgins Stadium, bumping their record to 2-2. The Bombers’ productive third quarter was essential, producing five out of the nine goals and allowing just one.
The Bombers’ momentum swung toward the middle half of the game, while the Golden Flyers opened and closed out strong. Between the 05:34 minute mark of the third quarter and the 13:28 in the fourth, The Bombers scored five goals unanswered.
With 4:35 left in the third, senior attacker Tim Rogers tried to find space in the left wing of the field, but could not take his shot. He danced around up to the middle of the field, looking for a chance to pass to senior midfielder Cullen Adams. He could not find an opportunity, so he faced two defenders one–on–one and worked back up toward the goal. He made an opening to pass to first-year attacker Ryan Connolly on the opposite side of the field. Connolly beat the Golden Flyers’ reaction time, delivering a shot under the goalie’s range. The Bombers took their first lead of the game, 6-5.
Most of the Bombers’ successful shots of the evening were taken from the low angle. Head coach Tommy Pearce said the team talked about generating new angles to avoid shooting to the middle of the cage at halftime. Before finding a sweet spot, they had difficulty delivering the ball accurately, shooting only five out of 14 on goal in the first quarter.
“We thought we had generated a lot of really good shots in the first half, but not shot them well,” Pearce said. “[We] kind of changed our plans a little bit. We did have one high goal in the first half, but we shot low to high, so we got the goalie dipping.”
The Bombers lost momentum in the fourth quarter, which nearly allowed Nazareth to push the game into overtime after the Golden Flyers’ scored three in a row, including a last minute rally to trail by one with less than 40 seconds left in the game. The Golden Flyers, with possession in the final 35 minutes, could not get the ball around the Bombers’ defense. A combined effort from seniors long stick midfielder Max Warn, defender Jace Dockx and goalkeeper Andrew Minard kept the tying point out of the net.
Pearce said the Bombers’ defense ultimately held the game down, but almost let them crawl back at the end. The Bombers also struggled to lock down at the end of quarters, allowing goals within two seconds of the buzzer in the first and second.
“I even think that some of the goals that we gave up was our defense getting a little bit overly aggressive,” Pearce said. “Situationally … I think some of those opportunities [Nazareth had to score] we kind of created for them, but they played great overall.”
Senior attacker Brendan Occhino, one of the Bombers’ multi–goal performers, with Rogers, deferred the credit to the defense and made sure to give individual shoutouts to a handful of his teammates.
“Minard, Dockx, Warn, [senior LSM/midfielder] Greg Szyluk and [first-year LSM/defender] Harry O’Neil all played awesome in six–on–six,” Occhino said. “[There are a] few things that we’d like to clean up, obviously, but there’s a lot of season left, and we’re looking to keep it rolling.”
The Bombers also flipped the narrative against Nazareth, who they lost to 8-9 in 2025. It also marks Pearce’s first win against the program, who they have played all three years in his reign. The team said it was amazing to finally be able to get a win on South Hill, after dealing with scheduling and weather issues.
“We always say as a team that you know you when a team comes to our home field that they’re never gonna win at Higgins [Stadium],” Occhino said.
Occhino said the Bombers will take a “business trip” when they face Widener University on March 7 in Chester, Pennsylvania.
