Herons Advance to Championships
4 May 2018 Herons Advance to Championships
The No. 17 William Smith College lacrosse team clinched the No. 1 seed in the Liberty League Tournament for the third year in a row with a 15-4 victory over Skidmore today on Boswell Field.
The Herons earned at least a share of the conference regular season title with the win and improve to 12-4 overall and finished their conference schedule with a 9-1 record. William Smith will host the Liberty League Tournament semifinals and championship on Boswell Field on May 5 and 6.
Sadie Mapsone 21 led the Herons with a season-high five points on three goals and two assists. Melissa Moore 18dished out four assists, shared a game-high with five ground balls and notched a game-high five caused turnovers. The five caused turnovers are tied for third on the Heron single game list. Anna Murphy21 posted her first hat trick of her Heron career. Ali Burns 18 and Bizzer Gahagan 20added two goals apiece. Kelsi Carr 18produced two goals and an assist. Ellie Burns 21 registered a goal and an assist. Rachael Piercey 20also scooped up five ground balls, and Mekayla Montgomery 21picked up four ground balls. Jules Kennedy 21played the opening 57:29 and made three saves. Olivia Hofmann 21 came in for the final 2:31.
Sarah Benyo 18 opened the scoring with her 26th goal this year 5:24 into the game. The Thoroughbreds put together back-to-back goals from Caponi and Lilla Seymour to take a 2-1 lead 6:42 into the contest, but it was the only time Skidmore would be on top. The Herons scored the next nine goals to take control of the game. Murphy opened the run with back-to-back goals. Mapstone scored off a feed from Moore and Carr found the back of the net, followed by another goal by Mapstone, this time with Carr setting up the play. Gahagan scored with one second left in the opening half to give the Herons an 8-2 advantage at halftime.
Ali Burns 18 and Eli Burns started the second half scoring to make it 10-2. Anna Boogaerts logged a free position goal for Skidmore with 17:11 left. Carr tallied her second of the day and sixth of the season off a feed from Ellie Burns and Bailey Ebby 18 scored her fourth goal of the spring with 13:23 on the clock. LaBeau set up a Caponi goal for the Thoroughbreds with 12:37 remaining. Goals from Murphy, Ali Burns and Mapstone closed out the scoring for William Smith. Moore set up the final two goals of the game. It was Mapstones second hat trick this year.
The Herons finished with a 32-11 advantage in shots and a 23-14 lead in ground balls. Each team won 10 draws. Skidmore was successful on 7-of-21 clear attempts, while William Smith finished 14-for-16.
As the No. 1 seed, the Herons earn a bye to the Liberty League Tournament semifinals which will be played on Boswell Field on Saturday, May 5. William Smith will play in the first semifinal at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The second semifinal is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. Sundays championship will be played at 1 p.m.