UTICA, N.Y. – The William Smith College ice hockey team dropped an ECAC West contest to Utica 6-3 this afternoon. Three different Herons scored goals as William Smith fought to overcome an early first period deficit.
 
The Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period when Morgan Reed and Jennifer Arts scored three seconds apart.  Nicole Schwartz dished a pass to Reed who drilled the shot into the goal. Arts collected a pass from Mackenzie Roy and fired a shot past the goalie. Four minutes later, Samantha Pucci scored to give Utica a 3-0 advantage.
 
The Herons closed the gap to 3-1 when Grace Durham scored her first goal of the year. Dori Craig sent a pass to Durham who tucked the puck into the net. 
 
Utica extended the lead to 4-1 just over two minutes into the second period. Reed and Schwartz connected on a give and go for the second time on the afternoon. The goal was a power play goal for the Pioneers. Three and a half minutes later, Roy picked up a goal of her own extending Utica's lead to 5-1.
 
William Smith would not go quietly however. Krista Federow notched her first goal of the season when she collected a pass from Craig before burying a shot in the back of the net. With 1:15 remaining in the second period, Catherine Linehan scored a power play goal to make it a two goal game. Durham and Lizzy Weingast were credited with the assists.
 
Roy added an insurance goal in the third period to secure the victory for the Pioneers.
 
Maggie Salmon started and played 34:29 in net for the Herons making 13 saves. Megan Messuri relieved Salmon and made 22 saves. Marissa McNamara started between the pipes for Utica and made 11 stops.
 
The Pioneers outshot William Smith 41-14.  While both team netted a power play goal, Utica was 1-7 and the Herons were 1-4 with the man advantage.
 
William Smith returns to the ice Saturday, Nov. 15 and Sunday, Nov. 16 when they travel to Potsdam, New York for a weekend series with the Potsdam Bears.