Senior Chloe Knapp scored a goal in the first half and then added her second of the game early in the second half to get the St. Lawrence University Women's Lacrosse team to within two goals at 4-2 but William Smith rallied to score the final six goals of the game to post a 10-2 victory over the Saints Friday afternoon in a Liberty League Tournament semifinal game on Boswell Field in Geneva.
The Herons (10-7) advance to face the winner of the Union/Skidmore game at 3:30 Saturday in Geneva.
William Smith opened the scoring Friday at the 18:24 mark of the first half as each team had trouble maintaining possession in the opening minutes of the contest.
Knapp did not waist time tying the score as she took a pass after the Saints (10-8) won the ensuing draw and scored just 24 seconds later to tie the score at 1-1.
The defensive battle continued for a majority of the first half before the Herons took a 2-1 lead with just less than five minutes left in the period. Another goal with only 30 seconds left on the clock gave William Smith a 3-1 lead as the teams headed into the halftime break.
In the second half, the Herons opened the scoring 1:47 into the period.
Knapp scored less than two minutes later with a man-up goal to trim the lead to 4-2.
William Smith scored five goals in a span of seven minutes starting at the 13:54 to take a 9-2 lead and then tacked on a late goal at the 2:53 mark to close out the scoring.
The statistical categories for turnovers (15), ground balls (18) and draw controls (7) were even for each team but William Smith held a 34-15 shots advantage and had nine free position shots to just three for the Saints.
Olga Lukas made eight saves in the St. Lawrence goal.
Maddie Rice and
Emma Garfield led the Saints defense with three ground balls and two caused turnovers each.
