The ninth-ranked William Smith College lacrosse team defeated 18th-ranked Messiah, 17-10, in an NCAA tournament game played on Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium Sunday afternoon. With their 14th-straight victory, the Herons are now 18-1 on the season.
William Smith advances to the third round of the NCAA tournament where it will face No. 8 Colby Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Middlebury, Vermont.
With 17 goals, six assists and 23 points in today’s game, William Smtih established new program records for goals (309), assists (152) and points (461) in a season. The previous records were established in 1995. William Smith also set a new record for draw controls in a season with 291, breaking the mark set in 1994.
Allie McGinty recorded a game-high six points on five goals and an assist. With her six points in today’s game, she became just the second player in program history to record 100 points in a season. Amy Hoover ’95 did it three times. Molly Davis was right behind her with five points on three goals and two assists and had seven draw controls. Maddie Montgomery logged four points and won a game-high nine draw controls. Kate Risley led the defensive effort, finishing with five caused turnovers and four ground balls. Maura Smeader played just over 56 minutes in goal and made two saves.
Ehryn Groothoff (3g), Grace Gormley (2g, 1a) and Emma Lytle (2g, 1a) had three points each for the Falcons (13-6). Gromley had a team-high six draw controls and three caused turnovers. Mackenzie O’Haver played all 60 minutes in goal and made eight saves.
After a turnover-plagued first five minutes, Messiah opened the scoring. Gromley beat Smeader for her 28th goal of the season. The tally came with 11:04 left in the first quarter. William Smith answered 30 seconds later. McMahon collected a feed from Montgomery and slipped a shot past the Messiah goalie. McMahon’s goal sparked a six-goal run for William Smith. Montgomery and McMahon scored twice during the streak. Davis and Kaitlin Pellechia added goals as the Herons took a 6-1 lead with 2:29 left in the frame. AbbyEllen Wood snapped the run with a free-position goal with 33 seconds left in the quarter. Anna Murphy closed out the first 15 minutes with her 56th goal of the season. Montgomery added an assist on the goal.
The Falcons scored the first two goals of the second quarter to cut the deficit to three goals. Gormley and Lytle scored unassisted goals to make it 7-4. That would be as close as Messiah would get as William Smith rattled off the game’s next three goals. Davis scored twice to complete her hat trick and extend her season total to 31 goals. McGinty also notched her first point of the game on her 38th goal of the season. With 5:02 left in the half, the Falcons scored twice within 30 seconds to make it 10-6. Lyttle and Groothoff scored the two goals. Katherine Murray rounded out the first half, scoring a woman-up goal with 50 seconds left. It was her 37th goal of the season.
Messiah again cut the deficit to four goals when Groothoff scored 75 seconds into the second half. Her 30th goal of the season was unassisted. The Herons put the game out of reach with four unanswered goals in the middle part of the third quarter. McGinty completed her hat trick with back-to-back goals to start the run. She picked up her first assist of the game with 5:47 left in the third quarter when she set up Murphy’s 57th goal of the season. Pellechia notched her second goal of the game with 1:36 remaining in the frame. Her 23rd goal of the season was assisted by Davis and gave the Herons a 15-7 lead. Amanda Wadsworth fired home a free position shot with seven seconds left in the quarter. It was her 27th goal of the season.
Groothoff completed her hat trick with a free position goal just past the halfway point of the fourth quarter. It was her 31st goal of the season. McGinty notched her fifth point of the game with 6:08 left in the game. Her 41st goal of the season was an unassisted strike. Wadsworth added a goal for Messiah to make it 16-10 with 1:33 left in regulation off of a feed from Lytle. McGinty wrapped up the scoring with her fifth goal of the game. Pellechia was awarded an assist on the goal. It was McGinty’s sixth point of the day and gave her 100 points on the season.
William Smith finished the game with a 33-16 edge in shots, a 24-13 advantage in ground balls and a 19-11 edge in the draw circle. Messiah was 18-for-24 on its clear attempts and William Smith was 15-for-20.
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