Ithaca College women’s lax among nation’s best

The Ithaca College women’s lacrosse team has been blowing away opponents this season, owning a 9-0 record to earn the seventh spot in the national rankings. The Bombers have outscored opponents 147-89 this season, scoring over 20 goals in three games and being held under double digits just twice.

They’re not playing pushovers either. Of the team’s nine wins this season, four have been against ranked opponents. That high level of competition has propelled the team up the national rankings with only two games remaining before the postseason begins. Head coach Karrie Moore is maintaining the team’s high-performance levels with competitive practices.

“We’ve been working really hard at practice and just making sure we challenge each other at practice,” Moore said. “We’re making sure that, frankly, practice is harder than games so when we get into those pressure situations in games, they can stay calm and composed and just be confident in their one-on-ones.”

She also touched on the tough opponents and the team’s ability to handle that pressure without issue.

“We absolutely know going into those games how big they are and we certainly get excited about those tests,” Moore said. “If you want to be in the national picture, you have to be excited about that. After the game, you get to celebrate, and then, we have to move on. We’ve done a good job this year of just making sure we take it one opponent at a time, one game at a time, especially with these back-to-back games.”

The Bombers appeared destined to have a great season last year, defeating four nationally-ranked opponents in five games before the season ended due to COVID-19. Moore discussed what has led to consistently achieving big wins.

“We did a similar thing at the beginning of last season,” she said. “Obviously, we only got five games in, but we were in a similar position, earning ourselves some good wins. It’s a product of the culture that our upperclassmen have built. They’ve done a great job of really keeping our underclassmen and their teammates really growth-focused and just moving forward, one thing at a time, and making sure we’re constantly getting better. I think those wins are just a product of that.”

Seniors have been leading the way for the Bombers this season, most notably Jacqui Hallack, who has an outstanding 44 goals in nine games. Beyond Hallack, the top seven scorers on the team and the goalkeeper, Mackenzie Schade, are all seniors.

“That senior class, they’ve got a real good sense of competition going,” Moore said. “They like to win, they want to win, and they’re willing to do the work to win. That’s always been a theme for Jacqui and a lot of those kids in that class. A lot of it stems from hard work and just having an offense that allows people to have the freedom to do the things that they’re good at. I think we’ve got a lot of threats in our offense.”

The strong senior class has embraced the opportunity to play this year after last season was cut short, and that sentiment has spread throughout the team.

“There’s a sense of gratitude that we get to play,” Moore said. “Every year, your seniors feel like that. What the 2020 season ending early did is it created that same kind of urgency, and everyone feels like we just don’t we don’t know how many games we’ll get. At some point, are we going to get forced to be on pause? Things like that. I just think that uncertainty of it has created a really positive sense of urgency across the team.”

Another key to the team’s success is staying hungry. Moore has created a team culture that continuously wants to improve upon already great results. She discussed what she’d like to see from her team as the season winds down.

“It’s just cleaning some things up,” Moore said. “We’ve got our systems in place. We’re happy. Obviously, our defense is in a really good place. But it’s: Can we get some more? Can we get some more caused turnovers? Can we lower our turnovers? Can we play a little cleaner and tighten up some discipline in our offense? I think that those are the things we have to keep pushing on and keep improving.”

The number seven looks great next to the Ithaca Bombers name in the national rankings, but the satisfaction won’t come until there is postseason success along with it.

“It’s a combo of being confident in what you’ve done but not being satisfied,” Moore said. “Sure, it’s exciting to be ranked where we are. I think that for us in our program goals, it’s where we expect to be and it’s what we expect of ourselves. I think that you can’t expect to be there and want to be there and then be worried about the pressure that comes with that. I think it is exciting.”

The Liberty League playoffs begin April 28, and a win in that tournament comes with an automatic bid to the national tournament. Two years ago, the Bombers reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and this season, they are looking for more.