ITHACA, NY – Powered by an eight-goal second half, the Ithaca men's lacrosse team posted a 15-5 victory over Vassar in Liberty League action on Sunday afternoon at Higgins Stadium. The 20th-ranked Bombers move to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in league action. The Brewers are now 1-4 on the season (1-4 LL).

The Bombers opened the scoring in the first quarter behind goals from Connor Brumfield and Jake Erickson for a 2-0 advantage with 9:59 left in the stanza. Ithaca opened the margin further with 3:42 left in the opening quarter as Dillon Fitzpatrick fired it down the middle through traffic and into the upper right corner past Vassar's Aidan Gallagher in goal.

The home team closed out the scoring with just eight seconds remaining as Charlie Niebuhr converted a feed from Drew Turner for the 4-0 margin after one.

In the second quarter following Ithaca's fifth goal off the stick of Brumfield, Vassar was able to go on an offensive run. At the 7:52 mark, James Nicholas scored off an outstanding feed from Troy Santise to make it a four-goal contest (5-1). The margin was cut further minutes later as Ryan Metz sailed one in past the Bombers keeper to make it 5-2 with 4:42 to go in the second frame. Nicholas then garnered his first assist of the game, firing a pass to Riley Olds at 3:25, making it a 5-3 game.

The Bombers went on to score two more goals before halftime as Erickson and Sramac both found the back of the net in the final 1:32 for a 7-3 Ithaca lead at the break.

Third quarter action saw Ithaca open on a quick burst as Niebuhr, Brumfield and Sramac all scored in a two minute window to push the Bombers lead to 10-3 with 9:32 left in the stanza. Niebuhr added another tally on the man-up with 3:06 to go and Sramac scored in the final 1:59 to extend the Bombers lead to 12-3 heading into the final quarter.

Fourth quarter action opened with a Niebuhr goal, but the Brewers bounced back at 10:54 as Ian Zumpano scored off an assist from Bryson Carter to make it a 13-4 lead for the Bombers.

Minutes later, Santise put another one on the board for the Brewers, scoring off a feed from Jon Bradbury at the 8:39 mark to make it 13-5. Despite the momentum, VC was unable to hold back Ithaca as Fitzpatrick scored at 7:58 followed by a Sramac goal minutes later in what proved to be the final goal for either side in the contest.

Ithaca was paced by Sramac, who had four goals and four assists on the afternoon. Niebuhr added four goals and an assist, while Brumfield had three goals. Erickson led all players with a game-best six assists – also adding two tallies. In goal, Connor Thornton earned the win, recording 10 saves. He was relieved by Ryan Laforty, who had one stop.

For Vassar, five different players scored paced by Nicholas and Santise as they each had a tally and an assist. The Brewers saw Gallagher shoulder the loss in goal, recording 16 saves. Jack Bagin came on in relief, recording one stop, while Danny Goldman also saw time in net with three saves.