Tanner netted William Smith's final three goals as the Herons edged St. John Fisher 10-8 this afternoon. (photo by Kevin Colton)

March 29, 2006

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The William Smith College lacrosse team earned its third straight victory with a 10-8 non-conference victory this afternoon at St. John Fisher College. Sophomore attacker Jesse McKenna (Middlesex School/Wenham, Mass.) led the charge for the Herons with a career-high six points, including four assists.

Senior defender Jessica Tanner (Guilderland/Schenectady, N.Y.) registered three goals and a helper, while sophomore attacker Carla Jemison paced the Cardinals with two points (1-1).

St. John Fisher (2-3) opened the scoring at the 5:43 mark, when junior attacker Haley Koperski registered her sixth tally of the season, but William Smith (3-2) stormed back with three unanswered markers to seize a 3-1 advantage at the 14:38 mark. Sophomore midfielder Rachel Stahl (Charles W. Baker/Baldwinsville, N.Y.) converted off a feed from junior midfielder Sarah Dillon (Blair Academy/Oldwick, N.J.) to ignite the run. Classmate Jessica Scott (Waynflete School/Portland, Maine) gave the Herons their first lead at the 11:57 mark, while Dillon followed suit less than three minutes later.

The hosts trimmed the lead to 3-2, but Stahl and McKenna answered just 13 seconds apart to regain William Smith’s three-goal advantage. Both squads traded goals in the latter stages of the half, as William Smith entered the intermission leading 6-3.

Both teams exchanged tallies to open the second stanza, but the Cardinals used a two-goal run to pull within one at the 45:16 mark.

The Herons rode the stick of Tanner down the stretch to fight off a pesky St. John Fisher squad. She sandwiched a pair of goals around a Cardinal score to give William Smith a 9-7 advantage. For the third time, the hosts cut the deficit to one, but Tanner completed her hat trick with 19 seconds remaining in regulation to close out the scoring and St. John Fisher’s threat.

Between the pipes, sophomore goaltender Morgan Baird (Pingree School/Gloucester, Mass.) made nine saves, while Danielle Murphy stopped five Heron offerings in the loss.

William Smith outshot St. John Fisher 26-22, and held a slight 21-20 advantage in ground balls thanks to sophomore defender Sarah Davidson’s (South Burlington/South Burlington, Vt.) game-high six.

William Smith makes its home debut at 11 a.m. on April 1, when the Herons host No. 3 Cortland State (5-0) in the opening game of the annual Heron Draw.

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