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The first four lacrosse seasons at Ithaca were extremely successful. The team posted three consecutive 4-0 records during the 1969, 1970 and 1971 seasons. The Bombers then won their first three games in 1972 before falling to eastern power Lock Haven. Coach Nancy Hicks guided the team to a perfect record during the inaugural season and again in 1971, and Joan Silken coached the 1970 team.
Sarah Rich took over in 1973 and coached the team until 1978. She led the Bombers to their first two New York State Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NYSAIAW) tournament appearances, and Ithaca finished second in 1977 and fourth the following year.
In 1980 the Bombers had one of their most successful years. Coach Pat Quinn guided Ithaca to a 13-2 record and the program’s first New York State women’s lacrosse title. The 13 victories marked the beginning of three straight seasons of double-figure win totals and set a record for wins in a season that stood for 21 years.
The 1980 season was the beginning of six straight winning seasons. In 1981 coach Andrea Golden’s initial season included a 12-2 record and a trip to the program’s first AIAW Division II championship playoff. In 1982 Golden led the Bombers to an 11-3 mark and the team’s second New York State title in three years. The team also placed fourth at the AIAW Division II tournament, where Shawn Benoliel scored an AIAW tournament record 10 goals against Northeastern.
The team had an overall mark of 65-8 from 1980 to 1985, a winning percentage of .890. During that six-year stretch, some of the program’s greatest players were on the field. Benoliel, a 2003 inductee into Ithaca’s Athletic Hall of Fame who held the program’s career scoring record for 20 seasons, and all-Americans Janet Eppinger and Leslie Murphy paced the offense, while goalies Paula Majeski and Andrea Norton anchored the defense. Majeski still ranks third in career save percentage (.678) and ninth in season save percentage (.720) among Division III players. Norton is 16th in career saves.
In 1988 and 1989 the team captured back-to-back ECAC championships. The Bombers went on to participate in their first NCAA playoff in 1989. Amy Ayers, Debbie Deaver, and Mary Kelly Rayel, who still rank among the program’s top goal-scorers, consistently led the offense during those championship runs.
In 1993 Golden guided the team to a 10-4 mark and another appearance in the NCAA tournament. The team was led by two-time academic all-American Kenja Ackerman and all-Americans Lisa Feinstein and Julie Stone, with Stone setting a school record with 84 points that season. Following her graduation, she became the first Ithaca player to earn a spot on the U.S. Developmental Team. Golden left following the 1995 season, with a career record of 123-86.
Piep van Heuven took over as head coach in 1996 and led Ithaca to postseason play in each of her six
seasons. In 1996 the Bombers placed third in the NYSWCAA tournament and reached the ECAC title game. That team was led by JoAnn Binko, who posted the program’s second-best single-season scoring total (71 points). She ranks fourth in career points (171). In 1997 Ithaca returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in four years, after dropping a one-goal decision to William Smith in the NYSWCAA finals. A year later, the Bombers made a second straight trip to the NCAA playoffs. Seniors Allison Doyle (159 points) and Heather Stafford (151 points) finished their careers third and fourth, respectively, on Ithaca’s career scoring list.
In 1999 all-Americans Jenna Gruben and Brooke Andrews helped lead the Bombers to the championship game of the ECAC Mid-Atlantic playoffs. The following spring Hicks, Rich and Leslie (Murphy) Jones were inducted into Ithaca’s Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2000 the defense of all-Americans Andrews and Becky Karver led Ithaca to a record-tying 13 wins and the program’s third ECAC title.
In 2001 Andrews and Karver capped their careers by leading Ithaca to a school-record 15 wins, the Empire 8 title and the program’s first state title since 1982. Competing in the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 1998, Ithaca topped St. Mary’s (Md.), 9-8, in the first round—the school’s first win in NCAA playoff competition—before losing to eventual runner-up Amherst in the quarterfinals. In 2002 the Bombers won their
second ECAC title in three years.
In 2003, first-year Bomber coach Karen Hollands (a 2001 inductee into the Hall of Fame) led Ithaca back into the NCAA playoffs behind the play of all-Americans Jessica Welch (who became the school’s career scoring leader), Dayna Johnson and Michelle Schlegel. A year later, Schlegel broke Welch’s year-old scoring record as the Bombers reached the NCAA tournament for the second season in a row.