CLEARWATER, FLA.—The William Smith College lacrosse team jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first 8:01 and then kept control of the game to secure a 15-8 win over Connecticut College in non-league game played in Clearwater, Florida, today. Sophomore Alexandra Bird logged a game-high eight points on seven goals and an assist.
 
Bird's seven goals are a career-high and are tied for the second most in a game in William Smith lacrosse history. Eight Herons have posted eight goals in a game for the record.
 
Today's win was the Herons' first of the season. Connecticut College falls to 2-4 overall. Sophomore Abbie Foote scored a career-high three goals for William Smith. Bird also won a team-high three draws. Sophomore goalie Sarah Honan registered 10 saves in all 60 minutes. She made four saves on free position attempts by the Camels. Honan also scooped up a game-high five ground balls. Junior Geneva Calder posted a game-high three caused turnovers.
 
Hannah Donegan led the Camels with four goals and an assist for five points. She also added two caused turnovers. Maggie Hogan registered a team-high four ground balls. Erin Moran won a game-high six draws for Connecticut College. Megan Fahey played the opening 8:01 and made just one save. Meg Raskin came in for the remainder and finished with seven saves.
 
The Herons scored the first six goals of the game and kept the Camels off the scoreboard until there was just 3:31 left in the opening half. Foote started the scoring for William Smith off a feed from Calder. Then Bird scored her first of the game before Foote struck again this time off an assist from first-year Melissa Moore to make it 3-0. Sophomore Allie Flaherty scored with 21:59 left in the first, and then Bird and Foote each chipped in their third goals of the game to give the Herons a 6-0 advantage with 4:24 left in the first. Donegan logged back-to-back goals for the Camels 1:33 apart to make it 6-2, but with just six seconds left before the break, Bird added another unassisted goal to put William Smith up 7-2 at halftime.
 
The Herons continued to control the momentum at the start of the second half, scoring the first four goals. Bird struck first and then first-year Alexandria Burns notched her third goal of the season. Bird strung together three straight goals to give William Smith an 11-2 lead. With 13:34 left, Lacey Hale notched a free position goal, and with 12:56, Donegan added a free position goal to make it 11-4. With 9:15 left in the game, junior Hannah Connolly scored with a woman-advantage to put the Herons back on top by eight. Meag Irvine and Cecily Cushman cut the Connecticut College deficit to six at 12-6. Bird posted her seventh goal of the game with 6:38 remaining. Donegan tallied her fourth goal of the afternoon for the Camels with 4:14 remaining. With 2:17 on the clock, first-year Sarah Benyo scored her second goal of the season for the Herons and first-year Molly Neureuter notched her second goal of the year with 45 seconds left. With just 34 seconds left in the game, Annie Cornbrooks found the back of the net off an assist from Donegan for the final.
 
William Smith finished with a 31-24 advantage in shots and a 17-13 edge in ground balls. The Camels held a 13-12 edge in draws. Connecticut College was successful on 12-of-16 clear attempts, while the Herons finished 17-of-21 attempts.
 
The Herons (1-3) will be back in action on Wednesday, March 18, when they take on Denison in another non-league game at noon in Clearwater.