The nationally-ranked William Smith College lacrosse team scored 11 goals in the first quarter and never looked back as they cruised to a 22-4 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology in a Liberty League contest on Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium Wednesday afternoon. With their fifth straight win, the Herons are now 9-1 overall this season with a 4-0 record in conference play.
The 22 goals in today’s game are the most by William Smith since March 23, 2010, when it defeated St. John Fisher 22-21. It was the second time this season that Herons have scored 20 goals in a game this season.
Allie McGinty led the way for William Smith, recording eight points on four goals and four assists. Anna Murphy had a game-high five goals and added an assist to finish the game with six points. Katherine Murray also scored four goals. In total 13 players found their way onto the scoresheet. Payton McMahon, Elizabeth MacMurray and Molly Daviseach had three draw controls and Maddie Montgomery notched a game-high three caused turnovers. Five different players had two ground balls for William Smith. Maura Smeader and Mady Dicks each played 30 minutes in goal. Smeader started and made one save in the first half. Dicks made two saves in the final 30 minutes.
The Tigers (4-7, 2-4) were let by Colette Rigas and Aldyn Savage who had two points each. Rigas had two goals and Savage added a goal and an assist. Savage won a game-high seven draw controls, and Claire Templeton had three caused turnovers and four ground balls. Linda Nutter played the first 30 minutes and made two saves. Victoria Rea did not make a stop in the second half.
William Smith jumped all over the Tigers, scoring on nine of their first 10 shots of the game. Just under a minute into the game, Murray opened the scoring with her 19th goal of the season. She collected a pass from McGinty and bounced a shot past Nutter. Seventeen seconds later Murphy fired home a pass from McMahon for her 24th goal of the season. Murphy continued the offensive blitz, rolling around a defender and ripping home her 25th goal of the season. Murray extended William Smith’s lead to 4-0 with her 20th tally of the season. Montgomery and McGinty scored free position goals 18 seconds apart, extending the lead to six goals. Murphy completed her hat trick with 7:22 left in the first quarter. Her 26th goal of the season was assisted by McGinty. With five minutes left in the frame, McGinty beat Nutter for her 15th goal of the season. Kaitlin Pellechia and Molly Davis added goals in the following minute to make it 10-0. Montgomery wrapped up the first quarter with her 33rd strike of the season.
RIT committed nine turnovers in the first quarter and only mustered one shot on goal in the frame.
Murray opened the second quarter with her third goal of the game. Murphy notched an assist on the first-year’s 21st goal of the season. Two minutes later, Montgomery completed her hat trick with her team-leading 34th goal of the season. Murray and Murphy traded goals in the middle portion of the period. Murray’s 22nd goal of the year was assisted by McGinty. Murphy’s 27th tally of the year was assisted by Montgomery. With 1:10 left in the half, McGinty completed her hat trick. Pellechia notched an assist on the goal.
The Herons scored four goals in the third quarter to push the lead to 20-0. Just over five minutes into the frame, Murphy beat Rea for her 28th goal of the year. Maddie Schleicher was credited with an assist. Three minutes later, Maggie Mulvaney bounced home a shot for her second goal of the year. Allie McGinty pocketed her fourth goal of the game with 3:45 left in the third quarter. Her 17th goal of the season was assisted by Lauren Weppler. Mulvaney scored with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. Her second goal of the game was assisted by Emily Griffin. The assists were the first collegiate points for Weppler and Griffin.
William Smith dominated the stat sheet, finishing the game with a 32-10 advantage in shots and a 16-11 edge in ground balls. RIT held a slight edge in the draw control battle, holding a 15-13 edge in the circle. The Herons were a perfect 16 for 16 clearing the ball and their midfielders caused all sorts of problems for the Tigers, limiting them to just five clears on 14 attempts.
William Smith will be back in action Saturday, April 9, when it heads to Rochester to begin a three-game road trip. The Herons will begin the road swing against Rochester at 2 p.m.
