William Smith College sophomore Allie McGinty recorded a career-high eight points as the eighth-ranked Herons’ lacrosse team cruised to a 20-6 victory over 22nd-ranked Geneseo on Stiles Field in the Poole Family Dome Saturday. McGinty had seven assists, which matches Amy Hoover ’95 and Kristen McCarthy ’96 for second on William Smith’s single-game list. Hoover had seven assists in a game twice.
The 20 goals were the most by the Herons since March 31, 2018, when they scored 21 against Buffalo State. The Herons last scored 20 goals in a game on March 31, 2012, when they hung 20 on Bard.
McGinty’s six assists in the first half alone would have given her a game-high in points. Molly Davis (3g, 2a), finished the game with five points. She also had a game-high seven draw controls. Four other players had hat tricks for William Smith (2-0). Anna Murphy and Maddie Montgomery scored four goals each and Katherine Murray and Payton McMahon notched three goals. Kate Risley scooped up a game-high three ground balls and had three caused turnovers. Maura Smeader started in goal and made six saves in 45 minutes of action. Mady Dicks came on in relief and made a save in the fourth quarter.
Geneseo (1-1) was led by Molly Brown, who had two goals and an assist. Emily Salanger also scored twice in the loss. Isabelle Sarle and Lindsay Merenda had two ground balls. Four different players had two draw controls and two players had two caused turnovers. Emily DeJohn and Margaret Rosachi split time in goal. They both made two saves.
William Smith raced out to an 8-2 lead after the first 15 minutes. The Herons scored the game’s first four goals and never looked back. Murphy opened the scoring 35 seconds into the game. She collected a feed from Davis and ripped a shot past DeJohn. McMahon notched the next two goals to give the Herons a three-goal lead. Her first goal was assisted by McGinty. The second was on a free-position shot. With 9:15 left in the frame, Murphy beat DeJohn for her second goal of the game. One minute later, Hannah Marafioti snapped the run with a free-position goal of her own. It was her fourth goal of the season.
William Smith rattled off the game’s next four goals to extend the lead to 8-1. Katherine Murray started the run with her first collegiate goal. Davis was awarded an assist on the goal. Sixty-two seconds later Davis fired home a free position shot. With 40 seconds remaining in the quarter, Murphy completed her hat trick off a feed from McGinty. Eighteen seconds later, Murray beat DeJohn on a free position attempt. Geneseo’s Molly Brown wrapped up the quarter, beating Smeader for her fourth goal of the season.
The Herons started the second quarter the same way they started the first, striking early and often. With 13:55 left in the half, Davis dodged past a defender and fired home her second goal of the game. Twenty-four seconds later Montgomery pocketed her first goal of the game on a free-position shot. The Herons continued to apply the pressure scoring three more goals in 90 seconds in the middle portion of the quarter. Kaitlin Pellechia and Montgomery scored 30 seconds apart to give William Smith a 10-goal lead. With 9:02 left in the quarter, McMahon completed her hat trick. Brown ended the Heron run with her fifth goal of the season. Montgomery scored with four seconds left in the half to complete her hat trick and give William Smith a 14-3 lead at the break.
The Herons scored all four goals in the third quarter. Molly Davis started the second half with her fifth goal of the season. Her free-position goal completed her hat trick. After assisting on six goals in the first half, McGinty netted her first goal of the season with 5:53 left in the third quarter. Two minutes later, Murphy fired home a free-position shot for her seventh goal of the season. Montgomery added a free-position shot with 1:18 left in the frame.
Geneseo opened the fourth quarter scoring just over two minutes into the frame. Caitlyn Korzeniewski beat Dicks for her first goal of the season. Just over two minutes later, Murray completed her hat trick off of a feed from Maddie Schleicher. Emily Salanger netted back-to-back goals for Geneseo in the closing stages of the fourth quarter. Maggie Mulvaney wrapped up the scoring with two seconds left in the game. Her first collegiate goal was assisted by McGinty.
William Smith finished the game with a 27-16 edge in shots, an 18-9 advantage in the draw circle and a 14-8 edge in ground balls. The Herons were 16-of-19 clearing the ball and the Knights were 15-of-17 on clear attempts.
William Smith will be back in action next Saturday, March 12, when it welcomes Nazareth to Geneva. Opening draw is scheduled for 1 p.m.
