Box Score | Postgame Interviews
GENEVA, N.Y.—First-year goalie
Jesse Wilson stopped a season-high 12 shots and sophomore
Lucy Johnson tallied a game- and season-high six points, to lead the William Smith College lacrosse team to a 14-13 upset over eighth-ranked Cortland this afternoon on McCooey Field. The Herons battled back from a six-goal deficit to improve to 6-4 on the season. The Red Dragons slip to 8-2 overall.
Johnson’s six points came on four and two assists. Senior
Molly Fitzgerald netted three goals for William Smith, while sophomore
Rosie Scheibel added two goals and a helper. First-year
Kathleen Ragan (2 goals) and junior
Cassie Findlay (1 goal-1 assist) each registered two points.
Cortland’s Lindsay Abbott shared game-high honors with six points on five goals and an assist. Her fifth goal marked the 100th of her career; she became just the fourth sophomore in Red Dragon history to reach that milestone. Jess Fritz (3 goals) and Kelly Radigan (1 goal-2 assists) each totaled three points, while Maria Di Fato added two goals.
Erin Kollar put the first point on the board for Cortland 5 minutes, 11 seconds into the contest. Johnson answered for the Herons with an unassisted tally just 15 seconds later.
The Red Dragons exploded for six unanswered goals over the next 11 minutes, thanks to four goals from Abbott and two from Di Fato, to take a 7-1 lead with 14:47 remaining in the stanza. Findlay stopped Cortland’s scoring run at the 13:30 mark, finishing a pass from Scheibel, but Nicki Mahoney put the visitors back up by six, 8-2, just over two minutes later.
The Herons rallied to end the first half with a 3-1 scoring run, sparked by an unassisted goal from sophomore
Callie Frelinghuysen with 10:02 to play. After tallies from Abbott, Fitzgerald, and Ragan, Cortland carried a 9-5 lead into the break.
William Smith continued to push, opening the second half with four unanswered goals, including two from Johnson, to tie the game at 9-all with 19:12 on the clock. Fritz netted her first of the day to take the lead back for the Red Dragons, but Johnson responded to even the game at 10-all. With just over 11 minutes remaining, sophomore
Kathryn Gillan gave the Herons their first lead, 11-10.
Fritz again had the answer, scoring back-to-back goals to give Cortland a 12-11 edge, but Fitzgerald, Scheibel, and Ragan scored the next three to give William Smith a 14-12 advantage with 7:33 to play. Radigan got the Red Dragons back within one with just over a minute to go, but the Herons won the ensuing draw to secure the victory.
The Red Dragons outshot their hosts 33-23 and held a 17-12 advantage in draws, but William Smith led the ground ball game 16-13.
Cortland goalie Ally Levy finished with seven saves.
William Smith will be back in action on April 17, when the Herons host third-ranked Hamilton for a Liberty League game at 2 p.m.