Rochester, N.Y. – The women's lacrosse team (9-6) seeded fourth in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament, posted its second upset in as many days, knocking off third-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology 12-11 in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament final Sunday at Nazareth. The Bombers, who stunned the top-seeded host Golden Flyers 8-5 in Saturday’s semifinal round, earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. Pairings for the NCAA tournament will be announced Sunday, May 4.

 

Senior Kim Medla (Brewster/Brewster), the tournament MVP, scored five goals to lead the Bombers. Junior Becky Bedard (East Longmeadow/East Longmeadow, Mass.) added six points on two goals and four assists.

 

Medla raised her season totals to 53 goals (matching Ithaca’s fifth-highest single-season total) and 58 points and her career numbers to 152 goals and 181 points. She’s the third Bomber to reach 150 career goals.

 

Bedard extended her own school record for assists in a season (she now has 44) and moved into second on Ithaca’s career list; with 77 she is 11 away from the school record. Her 125 career points are 17th on the program’s all-time list.

 

Sophomore Kylie McClure (Upper Arlington/Columbus, Ohio) recorded three goals and scored the game-winner with 48 seconds left in regulation. Following McClure’s go-ahead goal, the Ducks won the draw but were unable to get a shot off at the tying goal.

 

Sophomore Katherine Bixby (Germantown Friends/Philadelphia, Pa.) scored her second goal of the season and led Ithaca with career-best totals of seven ground balls and three caused turnovers.

 

Senior Emily Brooks (Ward Melville/Setauket) made five saves to earn her ninth win of the season.

 

The Bombers avenged two losses in the conference playoffs; they lost 12-9 to Nazareth and 16-10 to Stevens earlier this spring.

 

Ithaca will be making the program’s eighth NCAA playoff appearance and third under Coach Karen Hollands, who led the team to the NCAA tournament in 2003 and 2004.