GENEVA, N.Y.—The Skidmore College women's lacrosse team held off a late rally by William Smith to earn an 11-10 Liberty League victory on Boswell Field this afternoon. The Herons got within one goal in the final minute, but the Thoroughbreds won the ensuing draw and ran out the clock.
 
Skidmore is now 12-3 overall and 7-1 in the Liberty League, while the Herons fall to 6-9 and 4-4 in conference play. William Smith currently sits in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Liberty League still in the hunt for a tournament spot, with its final regular season game tomorrow, April 25 at home against RPI at 4 p.m.
 
Tyler Phillips posted a game-high five goals for the Thoroughbreds as well as a game-high four draws and a caused turnover. Emma Harris and Spencer Morgan produced three goals each. Paige DiAntonio and Anna Gubbins picked up a team-high three ground balls each. Megan Kolopsky played all 60 minutes in goal and made nine saves.
 
Junior Geneva Calder led the Herons with four goals. She added three ground balls and two draws. Sophomore Alexandra Bird notched three goals and won two draws. Senior Hayley Braun picked up game-high five ground balls and shared a game-high with three caused turnovers. Senior Rachel Hughes also added three caused turnovers, won a draw and logged two ground balls. She moved up to seventh place on William Smith's career draw list with 95 and is now one away from Head Coach's Brighde Dougherty's sixth place total. Hughes is now four caused turnovers away from the record of 119 held by Brigid Lynch '03. Sophomore Sarah Honan played all 60 minutes in goal and finished with 10 saves.
 
Phillips scored her first goal of the game 7:48 in. With 16:08 on the clock sophomore Alexandria Burns came off the bench and put the Herons on the board. Spencer Morgan gave the Thoroughbreds a 2-1 advantage with 11:56 on the clock. With 7:52 left in the first, Geneva Calder pulled an impressive move around her defender and fired home her shot to tie things up at 2-2. Emma Harris and Phillips each scored for Skidmore to put them up 4-2, but Bird logged her first goal of the game with just 46 seconds left before the break to put the Herons within one.
 
Morgan scored the first goal of the second half 1:36 in to give Skidmore a 5-3 lead. The Herons then put together a four-goal run that spanned 1:36. Calder scored three of those goals and junior Emy Stratton added the fourth to give William Smith a 7-5 lead with 26:09 left in the game. However, Harris and Phillips logged back-to-back goals for Skidmore to tie the game at 7-7 with 20:36 on the clock. Bird posted her second goal of the day to put William Smith back on top 31 seconds later, but the Thoroughbreds strung together the next three goals to build a 10-8 lead. With 5:01 remaining, first-year Ella Calder capitalized on a free position to get the Herons within one. However, Phillips posted her fifth goal of the day for Skidmore to make it 11-9 with 2:46 left. With 37 seconds on the clock, Bird  notched her third goal of the afternoon and 43rd of the season to get the Herons within one, but Skidmore came up with the final draw and ran down the clock to secure the win.
 
William Smith finished with a 30-24 advantage in shots and a 17-16 edge in ground balls. Skidmore held a 13-10 advantage in draws. The Herons were successful on 12-of-15 clear attempts, while the Thoroughbreds went 12-of-19 on clears.