GENEVA, NYWilliam Smith broke a 5-5 halftime tie by scoring the first three goals of the second half and held on to defeat Union, 9-8, in the championship game of the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The victory gives the 16-1 Herons the conference's automatic berth in next week's NCAA Division III championship tournament.
Goals by Tracy Genovese, Nikki Traino and Kate Bickford came within the first 1:28 of the second 30 minutes and enabled the Herons to jump out to an 8-5 lead. The Dutchwomen, who saw their six-game win streak come to an end as their overall record fell to 13-4, came back to within one with 11:36 left on unassisted goals by Molly Koch and Kathy Dolezal.
William Smith, which earned its 17th trip to the national tournament under head coach Pat Genovese, scored what proved to be the winning goal when Tracy Genovese scored her seventh goal of the season off a pass from Alexandra Herter that gave the Herons a 9-7 advantage with 8:46 remaining.
Molly Flanagan, who finished the game with a pair of tallies to go along with two assists, brought the Dutchwomen back to within one, 9-8, with 5:02 left but Union could not get the equalizer.
The first half saw Union freshman Alexandra Toney score three times to help the Dutchwomen to the 5-5 tie. Toney opened the game scoring off a feed from Molly Flanagan with 25:43 showing before the Herons jumped to a 3-1 advantage as Gretchen Lasda scored three consecutive unassisted goals.
Union answered the challenge as Toney started a 3-0 run with an unassisted goal at the 15-minute mark. Flanagan tied the game with 10:52 left and the team of Toney and Flanagan teamed up to give the Dutchwomen a 4-3 advantage with 6:19 left.
The Herons, who won the regular-season title and the right to host the tournament by virtue of its 7-1 record (which included a 14-8 victory over the Dutchwomen), went back on top as Brighde Dougherty and Sara Dillon scored within 18 seconds of each other. Senior captain Julia Davis tied the game for the Dutchwomen as she found the back of the net with seven seconds left in the opening half.
Union finished the half with a 17-10 shot advantage, including an 11-8 shot on goal edge. Rebecca Splain stopped six shots for the Herons while Rachel Beckman had three saves for the Dutchwomen.
The Garnet finished the game with a 22-15 shot on goal advantage but Splain, a junior who was named to the UCAA's All-Conference first team on Saturday (May 1) turned in a 14-save performance. Beckman finished with six saves for the Dutchwomen.
Union must now wait to find out if it receives an at-large to the national event.
UCAA All-Tournament Team
Union College--#4 Corinne Hennessy, #5 Tanya Davis, #23 Molly Flanagan
Hamilton College--#8 Nadia Dovi, #21 Liz Longley
Skidmore College--#14 Annie Ledyard, #16 Katie Weber
William Smith--#4 Liz Harris, #13 Tracy Genovese, #24 Brighde Dougherty, #19 Jessica Tanner
Tournament MVP--#11 Gretchen Lasda (William Smith)
