Ithaca College

It was a successful weekend for Ithaca College athletics, as the Bomber softball team won a regional championship, men's lacrosse advanced into the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, baseball claimed an Empire 8 title, and women's crew captured a pair of gold medals at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta.

The nationally-ranked Ithaca College softball team punched its ticket to Super Regionals on Sunday. 

Senior Casey Gavin, who was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player, drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the No. 16 Bombers overcame a late-inning deficit to defeat nationally-ranked Moravian College, 3-2, for the second time in as many days at Doris Kostrinsky Field. 

With the win, Ithaca, which won its regional championship for the first time since 2010, moved to 35-8 on the season while the Greyhounds had their season end at 37-6. 

Ithaca will now host the Super Regional best-of-three series beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday where it will face Rowan University which won the Cortland region on Sunday.

All year long, the No. 1-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team has used its prolific attack, the number one scoring offense in the country, to blow past teams.

During Saturday's second-round NCAA clash with Montclair (N.J.) State, the Bombers displayed a dominant defense that extended Ithaca's school-record win streak to 18 games while earning the school's first trip to the quarterfinals since 2008.

Ithaca (20-1) stymied Montclair State (13-7), holding the Red Hawks scoreless over the final 8:01 while freshman Josh Della Puca and juniors Cody Swing and John Januszkiewicz each scored goals as the Bombers moved on to the quarterfinals.

Ithaca will travel to Tufts (Mass.) University Wednesday for a showdown with the Jumbos (18-2), the two-time defending National Champions. Tufts advanced to the quarterfinals for the seventh straight season thanks to Saturday's 19-6 win over SUNY Cortland. Game time for the quarterfinals has not yet been announced.

The Ithaca College baseball team battled St. John Fisher College over 10 innings in the Empire 8 Conference Championship on Sunday at Dugan Yard and came away with a 9-7 victory. Ithaca earned its second consecutive Empire 8 title during the playoff format and improves its record to 27-15, while Fisher falls to 34-11.

The Bombers have claimed five straight E8 crowns and 15th overall since 2000.

Senior John Prendergast was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after a gutty performance on the mound. Prendergast earned his second win of the championship Sunday, and improved to 6-0 on the season, in 3.2 innings of relief and gave up two hits while striking out two more. On Thursday, he tossed seven shutout innings in the opening round win over Stevens, 9-1.

Fresh off a strong performance at the National Rowing Invitational Championship last weekend, the nationally-ranked Ithaca College women's crew team made its return to the Dad Vail Regatta in thrilling fashion as the No. 4 Bombers won gold in both the varsity 8 and the lightweight 4 on Saturday.  Ithaca, which has not competed in the Dad Vail since 1992, entered three boats in the regatta, all of which placed in the top two in their respective events.

In the Division III finale of the varsity 8, the Bombers showed why they received an at-large bid into the 2016 NCAA Rowing Championship as Melinda Keene, Jacqueline McDevitt, Libby Burns, Jennie Peterson, Emily Morley, Emily Vosburg, Colby D'Onofrio, Karina Feitner, and Krista Syracuse overcame a slow start and rowed to a first place finish after beating four other boats by a hefty margin.  The crew crossed the finish line in 7:11.92, which was nearly 10 seconds faster than any other entry.