ITHACA, NY – Nationally twelfth-ranked Ithaca scored 10 unanswered goals in the first two periods to pull away from Hartwick's men's lacrosse team on Saturday at Higgins Stadium. The Bombers won by a final score of 18-8.
           
Hartwick finishes the regular season 8-6 overall and 5-3 in the Empire 8. The Hawks claim the fourth seed in the upcoming Empire 8 playoffs. They travel to top-seeded Stevens on Wednesday for a semifinal meeting with the Ducks at 4 p.m. Ithaca finished in a tie with Stevens at the top of the standings, but the Ducks have the head-to-head tie-breaker. The second-seeded Bombers host third-seeded Nazareth Wednesday.
           
Jake Sachse (Lutherville, MD/Boys' Latin School of MD) led all players on the day with four goals for the Hawks. Sam Ferguson (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) contributed two goals and an assist. Matt McCallan (Bay Shore, NY/West Islip) and David Bianculli (Charlton, MA/Shepard Hill Regional) had the other Hartwick tallies.
           
Wyatt Long (Hardwick, NJ/Blair Academy), David Demand (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango), and Nick Couvaris (Seaford, NY/Seaford) all had assists.
           
Sachse would answer an early Ithaca goal at the 11:02 mark of the first quarter to even the score at 1-1 for 'Wick. Seven straight Bomber goals to close the quarter would give the hosts an 8-1 lead after 15 minutes.
           
After three more IC goals, McCallan answered for the Hawks. Two more tallies for Ithaca, however, gave the Bombers a 13-2 edge at half.
           
Ithaca out-scored 'Wick 3-1 in the third quarter before goals from Bianculli, Sachse, and Ferguson made it 16-6 in the fourth. Ithaca got the next two scores and Sachse and Ferguson closed out the day's scoring with goals 1:21 apart late in the contest.
           
Goalkeeper C.J. Alesandrini (Schenectady, NY/Colonie) made 14 saves in the game for 'Wick. He also had a game-high six ground balls. Garrison Wojtas (Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge) registered five ground balls and he tied teammate Derek Chandler (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) for a game-high three caused turnovers. Geoff Baptiste (North Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford) contributed three ground balls and Bianculli finished with three.
           
Ithaca had 11 different goal scorers led by John Januszkiewicz, Sean Ferrito, and Connor Hulme who had three goals each.