Box Score The William Smith College field hockey team locked up a spot in the four-team Liberty League Tournament with a 3-1 win over conference rival St. Lawrence in Canton, N.Y., this afternoon. First-year Alessandra Patrizio led the seventh-ranked Herons with a goal and an assist.

Coupled with No. 17 Skidmore's 4-3 win over No. 14 Rochester, the victory moved William Smith (12-2, 4-1) into a three-way tie for first in the conference heading into tomorrow's showdown against the Thoroughbreds (12-3, 4-1).

Junior Caitlin Moran scored her third goal of the season, threading a shot through traffic with 10:32 gone in the second half, finally solved a Saint defense which had come up big for the first 45 minutes. William Smith went on to added a pair of goals just under a minute apart to take a 3-0 lead before the Saints spoiled the shutout bid late in the contest.

Moran broke the scoring ice when she collected a rebound of a shot by sophomore Cory Connolly and flipped it into the cage, sliding it between defenders at 45:32.  Patrizio made it a 2-0 game at 56:06 when she found herself all alone in front of Nicole Matos and while the Saint goalie made a diving stop on the first shot, Patrizio buried her rebound for her fifth of the season. Heron scoring leader Taylor Cappello made it a 3-0 game just 56 seconds later when she redirected a pass from Patrizio into the cage off Matos' pads.

Senior Emma Berry put the Saints on the board with just 19.8 seconds remaining in the match, scoring from just inside the top of the circle on a penalty corner for her second of the year.

William Smith finished with a 28-7 advantage in total shots and a 13-4 edge in penalty corners. Amy Feda made two saves for her 10th win of the season. St. Lawrence (5-9, 1-4) stayed in the game with a number of blocked shots and a 10-save effort by goalkeeper Nicole Matos.

William Smith and Skidmore are slated to get underway at 2 p.m. in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Herons can secure any of the top three seeds in the Liberty League Tournament. Vassar, at 3-3, will be the No. 4 seed.