CORTLAND, NY – Nationally 23rd-ranked Ithaca outscored Cortland 9-1 over the final 16:52 of game action to earn a come-from-behind 16-15 victory in overtime in a women's lacrosse non-conference contest on Saturday afternoon on Grady Field. Ithaca improves to 3-0 on the year, while Cortland drops to 1-1.
Emma Dempsey (Brewerton/Paul V. Moore) led Cortland with six goals, while
Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East) added four goals.
Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) contributed three goals and an assist, while
Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) chipped in a goal and two assists.
Lexi Caron (Manlius/Fayetteville-Manlius) finished with two caused turnovers and three ground balls, and
Taylor Mullins (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy) had two caused turnovers.
Trinity Parks (Port Crane/Chenango Forks) made seven saves in goal.
Lily Cody scored six goals and added an assist, while also finishing with 13 draw controls and four ground balls, to lead the Bombers, and Kelly Augeri chipped in five goals and two assists. Leigh Naturale had two goals, one assist, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls.
Cortland jumped out to a 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the first period on a pair of goals by Dembinski. The Bombers responded with three goals in the next six minutes, two by Cody and one by Naturale to take their first lead.
The Red Dragons scored five of the next six goals to end the quarter with a 7-4 lead, highlighted by three goals from Dempsey and one goal each by Dembinski and
Chelsey Weber (Holtsville/Sachem East).
Cortland extended its lead to seven with under four minutes left in the half, as Elizalde and Dempsey each scored twice in the second quarter and Dembinski added her fourth goal of the game. Ithaca scored the final goal of the half with 2:37 left, but Cortland still held a 12-6 lead into the break.
A goal each by Elizalde and Dempsey extended the Cortland lead up to 14-7 with 3:18 left in the third quarter, but Kathryn Scallon began the Ithaca run with a goal with only 40 seconds left in the quarter.
Cody scored three goals for the Bombers early in the fourth quarter, and Augeri made it 14-12 with 10:54 remaining, but Melillo broke the scoring run with goal for Cortland midway through the quarter.
Ithaca then scored three more times in the frame, tying the game on a goal by Naturale with 1:18 left. The Bombers controlled the next draw and looked to score the winner at the end of regulation, but Dembinski forced a turnover and Mullins scooped up the ground ball with 15 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Cody recorded the draw control in overtime, and after Ithaca set up its offense, Cody fed Augeri for a shot into the top right corner of the goal to win the game with 3:48 left on the clock.
