GENEVA, N.Y.- The 20th-ranked William Smith College field hockey team was edged by Rochester 2-1 in a Liberty League semifinal on McCooey Field this evening.
 
The Herons, the top seed in the tournament, finish the season with a 12-6 overall record. Rochester, the No. 4 seed, will take on No. 3 Skidmore in the championship game. The Yellowjackets are now 17-3 overall. The Thoroughbreds topped No. 2 seed Vassar 3-1 in the other tournament semifinal this evening.
 
William Smith took an early 1-0 lead on Maura Moran's 13th goal of the season. She intercepted a pass at the 25-yard line, deked around a defender, carried the ball into the center of the arc, and fired a shot that beat Rochester goalie Gabrielle Cantley low. The goal came on just the second shot of the game.
 
The Yellowjacket's Callie Fisher and junior Hannah Wood traded scoring opportunities in the 16th minute, but both shots were saved by the goalies. Senior Biz Chirco used her blocker to bat Fisher's seeing-eye shot out of the air. At the opposite end of the field, Wood beat her defender and fired a low shot on goal that Cantley turned aside with her left leg.
 
Rochester leveled the game in the 19th minute when Maya Haigis scored her first of the game off a penalty corner. Sayaka Abe collected the corner insertion and slid a pass to Haigis, who was on the left side of the arc. Haigis blasted the ball past Chirco and into the cage.
 
Wood nearly gave the Herons the lead in the 44th minute. She broke into the attacking zone, dribbled the ball around a defender, but had her shot attempt smothered by a diving Kiran Sundaram.
 
Haigis' second goal of the game proved to be the game-winner. Abe was credited with an assist on the penalty corner goal for the Yellowjackets. Haigis once again fired a shot from the left side of the arc that found the back of the cage.
 
The Herons had scoring opportunities in the final 12 minutes of the game but they could not solve the Rochester defense. Junior Alexandra Frary had one shot trickle wide and another stopped by Sundaram off penalty corners, Wood had a shot taken off the goal line by a Yellowjackets defender, and senior Alessandra Patrizio deflected and Austen Gillen-Keeney feed just went over the crossbar.
 
Chirco finished the game with 2 saves in 70 minutes. Cantley and Sundaram combined to make five stops in the Rochester goal.
 
William Smith finished the game with a 14-8 edge in shots while the teams finished tied with five penalty corners apiece.
 
The Heron's ten seniors, Austen Gillen-Keeney, Cydney Conley, Emily Granger, Lauren Stevenson, Alessandra Patrizio, Lindsay Brandt, Katie Meyer, Jessica Borbee, Biz Chirco, and Amy Feda have helped the Herons to a 56-21 overall record, a 17-7 record in the Liberty League, two Liberty League Regular season titles, one Liberty League tournament championship and two NCAA tournament bids.