GENEVA, N.Y.-The William Smith College ice hockey team was defeated by top-ranked Plattsburgh 5-1 in ECAC Women's West action at the Cooler this afternoon.
 
The Herons (2-2-0, 0-2-0) and Cardinals (2-0-0, 2-0-0) played a scoreless opening period that saw the goaltenders stand tall. Junior Maggie Salmon stopped all 23 Plattsburgh shots she faced. At the opposite end of the rink, Camille Leonard made 10 stops of her own.
 
The Cardinals tallied three goals in the second period to take control of the game. Meghan Krause's first goal of the season came at the 3:39 mark of the period. She collected a pass from Jordan Lipson low in the attacking zone and snuck a shot between Salmon's left leg pad and the goal post. Plattsburgh doubled its lead with a power-play goal at 6:26. Erin Brand fired a shot from the point that may have deflected off a stick in front of a screened Salmon and into the goal. It was Brand's second goal of the season. Kayla Meneghin and Lipson were credited with assists on the goal. At 16:36 of the second period, Melissa Ames gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. She stationed herself in front of Salmon and deflected Brand's shot from the point past the William Smith goalie.
 
Meneghin extended Plattsburgh's lead to four goals at 4:47 of the third period. She collected a pass from Melissa Sheeran in the slot and wristed it past Salmon.
 
The Herons cut into the Plattsburgh lead a little over three minutes later when sophomore Jordan Roetzer scored her first goal in a William Smith uniform. The power-play goal was assisted by junior Rebecca Begley and sophomore Maura Mulligan. Mulligan dished the puck to Begley at the point. Begley fired a shot that was blocked by a Cardinal defender, she collected her own rebound, and slid a pass to Roetzer, who was just inside the left faceoff circle. Roetzer wristed the shot past Leonard and into the goal.
 
Plattsburgh added an insurance goal 77 seconds later to extend its lead to 5-1. With the Cardinals killing off a penalty, Brand forced a turnover at her own blue line, and fired a tape-to-tape pass to Courtney Moriarty. Moriarty broke into the attacking zone all alone and slid a backhand through Salmon's legs for a shorthanded tally.
 
Neither team could get anything going on the power play this afternoon. William Smith scored on one of its 10 extra skater opportunities, while Plattsburgh finished the game 1 of 6.
 
Despite the final score, the Herons defense was aggressive getting into shooting lanes. William Smith finished the game with 16 blocked shots.
 
Salmon was again strong in goal for the Herons, making 42 saves. In the Plattsburgh goal, Leonard stopped 26 of 27 to notch her second win of the season.
 
William Smith will face another tough test when its returns to The Cooler next Friday. The Herons will take on Utica, which is currently ranked No. 9 in both the D3hockey.com poll and the USCHO poll. The same two teams will also play Nov. 13 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium at 11 a.m. Plattsburgh will continue its road trip next weekend, Nov. 11-12, with a pair of games against Neumann in Aston, Pa.