Kayla Schmalz scored three goals including two in the second half leading the St. Lawrence University Women's Lacrosse team to a critical 8-6 victory over Clarkson Saturday afternoon on Hantz Field in Potsdam.
With the win, St. Lawrence (10-7 Overall, 6-3 Liberty League) finished in a three-way tie for third place in the final regular-season Liberty League standings with Clarkson and Skidmore. The Thoroughbreds earn the third seed in the Liberty League Tournament with wins over both St. Lawrence and Clarkson while the Saints capture the fourth seed with their win over Clarkson. The Saints will face top-seeded William Smith Friday afternoon in Geneva at either 2 or 5:00 PM with the host William Smith having the option on which semifinal time to play. Skidmore will face No. 2 Union in the other semifinal with the two winners playing for the league championship at 3:30 PM Saturday in Geneva.
It is the first Liberty League Tournament bid for the Saints since 2013 when St. Lawrence beat William Smith in the semifinals before falling to RPI in the championship game.
Against Clarkson on Saturday, the Knights (12-4, 6-3) opened the scoring five minutes into the contest but Kiera Taussig answered for the Saints four minutes later to knot the score at 1-1.
Kara Hurley scored the first of two goals on the day at the 16:48 mark to give the Saints a lead and Julia Mitiguy scored 10 minutes later for a 3-1 St. Lawrence advantage.
Schmalz capped the four-goal run for the Saints less than two minutes later giving St. Lawrence a 4-1 lead with 4:33 left in the opening half.
The Knights closed out the half with a pair of goals including a man-up goal with just five seconds left on the clock and the Saints held a slim 4-3 lead at the halftime intermission.
In the second half, Clarkson scored twice in the first six minutes of the period with a pair of man-up goals taking a 5-4 lead.
Schmalz answered for the Saints at the 16:31 mark coming around from behind the goal before stopping and spinning to elude her defender and clearing the way for a shot and a goal to even the score at 5-5.
One minute later, Clarkson regained the lead but the lead did not last long as Schmalz controlled the ensuing draw and raced in scoring on a shot to the lower corner to tie the score again at 6-6 just 10 seconds after the Knights had taken a lead.
A minute later, St. Lawrence was on the attack again and Abigail Owens used a quick-stick shot from a centering pass of Caroline Bailey that scored to give the Saints the lead for good at 7-6 with 13:43 left to play.
Just over a minute later, Hurley scored her second goal of the day, racing up the field in transition and scoring to give the Saints an 8-6 lead.
Clarkson could not answer as Olga Lukas made three saves down the stretch including one with less than a minute to play to secure the victory.
Schmalz's three points led the Saints and Hurley had two points with her two goals. Schmalz added a team-best four ground balls, two caused turnovers and three draw controls for St. Lawrence. Lukas finished with six saves to pick up her ninth win of the season.
