GENEVA, N.Y. – The Union College women's lacrosse team battled hard against #5 William Smith in Sunday's Liberty League Championship game, but the second-seeded Garnet Chargers came a few bounces short in a 13-8 loss to the top-seeded Herons on Sunday afternoon at Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium.
Despite the loss, Union only dropped one spot in the NPI rankings to finish 27th, earning one of the 17 at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament. The official NCAA selection show will take place tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on
NCAA.com.
Junior
Maddy Schiller tied the game-high with three goals and added an assist for four points to lead Union (13-6). Senior
Christina Guanci added two goals while seniors
Hannah Compa and
Maddie Doyle and junior
Gillian Joseph scored once each. Senior
Lana Mickelson also recorded one assist to become the 32nd player in program history to reach the 100-point mark at Union.
The first half was defined by three runs, two of which went William Smith's way to give the home team an 8-5 lead at the half. The Herons scored three times in the first 2:35 of the game to take an early edge, but Union settled in on both ends of the field with three of the first quarter's final four goals, coming from Joseph, Schiller and Compa. Guanci scored the first goal of the second stanza after Union forced a shot-clock violation to even the score at four.
However, William Smith closed the quarter on a 4-1 run of its own, with Guanci's free-position goal with 1:34 the only one of Union's four shots to find the net. The Herons held a 14-12 edge in shots over the first 30 minutes on the way to an 8-5 lead.
The home team outshot Union by an 11-2 margin in the third quarter, as the Herons scored two goals to Union's one to extend their lead to 10-6 after 45 minutes. Senior
Sydney Widlitz made three saves late in the frame to keep the game close.
Schiller scored a player-up goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter to get back within three, as she picked up the rebound of her own shot and scored her second of the day. William Smith goalie Casey Fiore made a key save on the next possession to keep it a three-goal game and the Herons came back with two goals in 52 seconds to kill the momentum and bump the lead to five with 9:57 on the clock. Schiller completed her hat trick with 7:14 to go, but four turnovers and four missed shots the rest of the way limited the comeback attempt.
Junior
Maddie Greco led the team with four ground balls and was joined with two caused turnovers by Mickelson. The defensive unit did all it could to keep the team in the game, forcing William Smith into 18 turnovers, its second-highest number of the season, as well as a season-high four failed clears.
