POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The weather finally feels like spring, and the Vassar men's lacrosse team fought in one of the most exciting games of the season. Vassar rallied from a four-goal first half deficit to tie the game late in the fourth, but a Bombers' goal in the final 10 seconds proved to be the difference maker in the 15-14 loss on Saturday afternoon at Weinberg Field.

Two Brewers in Logan Hyde and Tomas Meade recorded hat tricks, while nine different Vassar players scored. Vassar now falls to 2-7 overall and Ithaca moves to 6-2.
Vassar got on the board quick in the first behind an unassisted Kyle Cherry (Manhasset, NY) score. The Bombers woke up soon after, netting three-straight goals. After Ithaca went up 3-1, Vassar remained calm with Matthew Lowery (Bel Air, MD) winning the next faceoff. He quickly took a shot that went wide of the Ithaca goal, but Drew Adams (Westwood, MA) capitalized on the Vassar possession, scoring at 8:19. After a few turnovers on both sides, Vassar ended up with the ball. Two shots by Liam Neville (Davis, CA) went wide, and then Hyde tallied the score at 3:31 to tie the game 3-3. Ithaca scored once more in the quarter, and carried over to a 3-0 run to start the second to go up 7-3.

The Brewers closed the second quarter strong with goals from Spencer Duryee (Whitehouse Station, NJ), Neville and Cameron Erdman (Wyckoff, NJ) to make it 7-6 heading into the half.

The Bombers opened with two score in the second half, but Hyde capitalized on the man-up situation, scoring off the Neville feed at 8:14. Connor Deehan (Westwood, MA) scored the final goal of the third to cut the Ithaca lead to 11-8.

Vassar scored six goals in the final stanza, including a 4-0 run within a two-minute span to tie the game 13-13. Meade scored twice, with Duryee and Michael Killion (McLean, VA) also getting on the board. An Ithaca goal at 4:05 put them up 14-13, but after a Bombers' turnover, Meade streaked down the field for a quick score. Adams had one final attempt to give Vassar the lead, but the Ithaca goalkeeper made the save. With nine seconds on the clock Ithaca's Ryan Ozsvath netted the gamewinner.

Meade led Vassar with four points (three goals, one assist). Hyde, Neville, Deehan and Duryee all had three points. Lowery attempted every faceoff and went 19-of-32 and recorded a game-high 14 groundballs.

Erik Mikelinich (Dix Hills, NY) started in goal and recorded a season-high 17 saves.

Vassar is back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Bard for a 7 p.m. game.