It was definitely a great day to be a Bomber as the No. 18 ranked Ithaca College women’s lacrosse team absolutely crushed the current No. 2 ranked team in the country, the William Smith College Herons, in a decisive 16–3 victory.
This was a matchup that had Bomber fans biting their nails as this was a game that could put the Bombers on top of the Liberty League. The Bombers also came into the game having not beaten the Herons since 2021, with the last matchup in the 2023 Liberty League Championship. The South Hill squad took all of this motivation and ran with it.
The tone of the game was set early on by senior midfielder Sydney Phillips when she scored her first goal of the game. This goal was part of a barrage from the Bombers, who scored six goals unanswered to begin the game. Following Phillips’ show opener, the goals continued when senior midfielder Lexi Kellish and junior midfielder Julianna Esposito each racked up points of their own for the Bombers.
The second quarter held another three goals for the Bombers. Down 6–0 and reeling, the Herons made a slight comeback by scoring the team’s first two goals. However, the Bombers defense held up like a brick wall and continued playing that way until the end.
Head coach Karrie Moore said this was the most in-sync she has seen the team and this game has made her so excited for what’s next.
“It feels awesome,” Moore said. “There is always a lot of pressure and emphasis put on this game, so it feels awesome. I feel this is the most connected we’ve played, the kind of lacrosse we have been trying to build toward, so yeah, for a lot of reasons it was good.”
Sophomore attacker Leigh Naturale started her first game of the season during the matchup, where she scored the Bombers’ seventh goal at the 12:06 mark in the third quarter, her fifth of the season.
Naturale said getting the start in such an important game felt incredible and the chemistry the team was experiencing during it made that start even more special.
“It was rewarding because last year I started and I didn’t start this year, so it was nice to earn it and work for it,” Naturale said. “The one goal felt really good because last year I could not really shoot, but this year I have been finishing my shots. It felt good because literally every one of us was bringing each other up so the energy was so high, we were all connecting.”
The second half held even more effort and dominance from the Bombers as they racked up another six goals, including hat tricks from not only Phillips, but four goals from senior attacker Maizy Veitch.
The Bombers went completely unscathed in the third and fourth quarters until Herons sophomore midfielder Natalie Daniels scored her third goal of the game to make it 16–3 with 6:21 remaining in the game. This broke a 10–0 run the South Hill squad had gone on since entering the second half.
With stout defense that virtually eliminated every threat, the Bombers were content to run out the clock and pick up the biggest win of the season.
The No. 18 Bombers now stand 10–1 overall and 6–0 in Liberty League action. The Herons drop to 11–1 overall, and with a 5–1 Liberty League record, drop behind the Bombers, who now stand first in the Liberty League.
The now Liberty League front running Bombers will next play at 1 p.m. April 13 at Higgins Stadium against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Engineers.
