SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's lacrosse team put together arguably its best defensive effort of the season, but it was not enough as the Garnet Chargers suffered their first loss with a 7-4 defeat at the hands of IWLCA #7 William Smith College in both teams' Liberty League opener on Friday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
 
Sophomore Anna Dembowski led Union (4-1, 0-1 Liberty League) defensively with a game-high five ground balls and four caused turnovers, followed by first-year Kate Loughney with three ground balls and one caused turnover. As a team, the Garnet Chargers caused 10 of the Heron's 16 miscues and forced the visitors into an 18-of-23 effort in clearing attempts.
 
Junior Sydney Widlitz also had a good game in goal for the home team, making 12 saves and limiting the visitors to a 2-of-8 mark from the eight-meter arc.
 
Despite Union's efforts, William Smith (4-2, 1-0 Liberty League) received just enough offense to pull out the win, getting two goals each from Kira Fulton, Kate Colvin and Kayla Quirk. First-year Stella Del Papa was the only Union player to find the net multiple times with a pair of goals.
 
Three of the four quarters featured only one goal for each team, but William Smith outscored Union by a 4-1 margin in the second stanza to provide for the final margin. Union grabbed its first lead of the game when Del Papa scored her first with 2:38 left in the first to even the score and junior Lana Mickelson converted a feed from sophomore Maddy Schiller 2:55 into the second stanza. However, Fulton tied the game on the next possession and the Herons scored the final three goals of the period to take a 5-2 lead into halftime.
 
Senior Greta Maurer scored on the first possession of the third quarter to give the home team some life coming out of the half, but once again Fulton quelled the momentum off the ensuring draw with her second of the day to build the lead back up to three. Union went over 26 minutes before Del Papa scored again with 3:50 left to get back within three, but it was too late to mount a comeback.
 
William Smith finished with a slight 24-22 edge in shots, while Union was hurt by turning the ball over 21 times and taking only two eight-meter shots.
 
Union will look to turn the page tomorrow with a 2 p.m. matchup against Rochester Institute of Technology at Frank Bailey Field.