ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College women's lacrosse team will travel up Route 13 to face 10-ranked Ithaca College in Empire 8 Conference action on Tuesday, March 28. The contest is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. at the Bombers' Higgins Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT: The Soaring Eagles fell in a non-league bout to Cazenovia on Saturday, March 25, by a final score of 9-6. The Wildcats' Kaitlin Sheppard opened the scoring in the contest, netting a goal just 41 seconds into the game. EC responded with a tally of its own, as
Kyra McDonald '18 scored her third goal of the season 21 seconds later. Less than a minute later, Caz the lead on the first of Patricia Breen's three goals. The action slowed down after this fast-paced opening two minutes, as 10 minutes passed before the aforementioned Breen scored her second goal of the day to put the Wildcats up 3-1. A
Hayley Baker '19 tally at the 17:47 mark cut the deficit back to one goal, 3-2, but it would not last long, as Cazenovia extended its lead to three goals just before the halftime break. This deficit did not deter the Soaring Eagles, however, as a woman-up goal by Baker at the end of the first half and a
Rachael Goetz '20 score at the beginning of the second stanza cut the margin back to one goal, 5-4. Unfortunately for Elmira, that is the closest it would come the remainder of the game, as the Wildcats were able to sneak away with the three-goal victory.
HUGHSON'S HUGE PERFORMANCE: Junior midfielder
Sarah Hughson '18 played one of the best games of her career in the non-conference bout against Caz. Hughson's nine ground balls and seven caused turnovers were both career high. The Soaring Eagles scored twice off of a Hughson caused turnover and a subsequent ground ball. With the strong effort, the East Haddam, Connecticut, native climbed to second place on the E8 leaderboard in caused turnovers per game (3.00) just behind her teammate
Kelcey Crawford '18 (3.33). Hughson is also fourth in ground ball per game (3.67), trailing just behind her EC teammate Crawford and Colleen Dowling of Utica College (4.00).
SCOUTING ITHACA: The Bombers have played exceptional lacrosse to start the season, as they have dropped just one game so far and come into the contest with a 6-1 record. Ithaca has beaten some quality competition along the way, besting second-ranked Trinity College, 11-10, on March 14 and beating sixth-ranked SUNY Cortland in overtime by an identical score on March 23. The Bombers' most recent affair was a 26-2 romp of Alfred University in an E8 tilt on March 25. Senior attacker Ally Runyon leads the Ithaca offense with 33 points on a conference-best 29 goals and four assists. The reigning Empire 8 All-Conference First-Team honoree was critical in both of the Ithaca's victories over ranked foes, as she scored four goals in both of those contests. Senior goalie Emily Ross has excelled between the pipes for the Bombers, as her .526 saves percentage ranks second in the conference.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The history between these two programs has been one sided, as Ithaca owns a commanding 15-1 lead in the all-time series. The Bombers won last year's tilt by a final score of 22-1 at Higgins Stadium. EC's lone victory over its league foes came on March 29, 2006, at home in Elmira, New York, by a final score of 10-7.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Soaring Eagles return to action on Saturday, April 1, with a conference bout against E8 adversary Utica College at nearby Ernie Davis Academy. The tilt is slated to start at 1:00 p.m.
