GENEVA, N.Y.—The William Smith College field hockey team downed #13 nationally ranked Ursinus College 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at McCooey Field.
Sundays matchup between the Bears and the Herons did not disappoint. Although outshot by the Bears, the Herons landed more shots on goal by a total of nine compared to Ursinus’ five. Leading the way for the Herons on offense was Senior Mackenzie Wodka who scored a hat-trick on the day. Also adding a goal for the Herons was Junior Sofia Pattillo which brings her to two on the year.
Leading the way for the Heron defense was Junior goalie Brittany Foster who registered three saves in the victory over the Bears. Adding to the defensive success was Senior Kate Barilla who registered one defensive save in the match. The Herons faced 10 penalty corners on the day but stayed strong to only allow one goal in the match.
MATCH MOMENTS:
• Mackenzie Wodka opened the scoring for the Herons at 20:47 in the match as she slipped the ball past the Bears goalie with a shot from about four yards out.
• After strong play by both teams, Wodka broke through again as she netted two goals within 1:19 span of each other. The second goal was assisted by Sophomore Rebecca Mantione as she took a shot that was eventually put away by Wodka.
• To close out the scoring for the Herons was Junior Sofia Pattillo who found the back of the net at 49:06.
• The Bears got on the board in the 52nd minute as Jordan Moore converted from a penalty corner but thanks to a strong defensive effort from the Herons, the Bears could not continue their comeback and the time ran out.
COACHES CORNER:
“I’m just so proud of the entire team for the fight, determination and resilience that we had” says Head Coach Sophie Riskie ’07. “McKenzie with three goals was incredible. All of our forwards played incredible and in that first line of defense mentality too, just really putting the defensive pressure on.
“Ursinus came out in the second half and really stepped it up and I expected nothing less from a very strong opponent. We withstood that pressure and Brit made some big saves and the communication was awesome in the backfield.”
UP NEXT:
William Smith will head to SUNY Geneseo to take on the Knights on Wednesday, September 7th at 6pm.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected].