Box Score

ITHACA, NY – Nationally thirteenth ranked Ithaca College downed Hartwick women's lacrosse in the Hawks' final game of the season on Saturday, 22-4. The Hawks close out the season with a 4-11 mark and 1-6 record in Empire 8 play. The Bombers improve to 11-5 and 7-0 and will host the conference playoffs next weekend.
           
Freshman Kia Ference (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) led Hartwick on the day with a goal and an assist. Junior Meg Luce (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs), sophomore Emily Jweid (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro), and freshman Ally Naja (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls) added goals for the Hawks.
           
Jweid would also add the team-highs for draw controls and ground balls. She grabbed five draws and scooped up three ground balls in the match.
           
Ithaca would break the ice 2:01 into the game on a Tracy Rivas free-position goal. Ference would even the game for Hartwick four minutes and 21 seconds later. The game remained a 1-1 affair for the next five minutes of action but the Bombers would take command with under 19 minutes left as they tallied four times over a 5:27 span to take a 6-2 lead.
          
Later in the half, three more IC tallies 3:33 apart would increase the margin to 8-1. Luce responded with her twentieth goal of the season on a free-position shot to pull the Hawks to within six, 8-2, before the hosts tacked on two more in the final 3:21 to take an 11-2 advantage into halftime.
           
After two early goals in the second half, Jweid tallied her team-leading twenty-seventh goal of the season to make the score 12-3. But Ithaca rallied for the next seven goals over an 11:16 span to put the game away.
           
Naja converted her fifth goal of the season with 10:04 remaining with Ference dishing out her third assists of the year.
           
Mandy Van Auken (Altamont, NY/Guilderland), Naja, and goalkeeper Steph Luce (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) grabbed two ground balls apiece for Hartwick. Caroline Stanford (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) added two draws.
           
Rivas led a balanced Ithaca attack with three goals and an assist. Sam Whitney and Michelle Avery also chipped in with three goals apiece.
           
Jess Worthman and Brittany Romano combined for the victory, with 30 minutes apiece in Ithaca's cage. Steph Luce stopped nine Bomber shots.
           
The game marked the final one in the careers of Hartwick seniors Erin Doyle (Syracuse, NY/Corcoran), Lindsay Zweigenhaft (Islip, NY/Islip) and Kate O'Shea (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood).
           
Doyle finishes her four-year career at 'Wick with 33 goals and 11 assists for 44 points to go along with 29 ground balls, 12 draws, and 11 caused turnovers. Zweigenhaft caused 28 turnovers, grabbed 43 ground balls and added three goals in her three years with the Hawks. Her 17 caused turnovers this season was tied for the team lead. O'Shea tallied 12 times with six assists in a Hartwick uniform. She added 35 ground balls, 32 draws, and 14 caused turnovers.