The William Smith College lacrosse team held a 4-3 lead until the last seconds of the first half, but No. 1 Cortland rallied for a 14-6 win in a non-league game played this afternoon on Boswell Field. The Red Dragons improved to 8-0, while the Herons are now 1-5.
 
Cortland is the fourth nationally-ranked team William Smith has played this season. The Herons held a 10-9 edge in draws, while the Red Dragons earned a 20-16 advantage in ground balls and a 30-19 lead in shots.
 
Sophomore Ali Burns and first-year Bizzer Gahagan each notched two goals for William Smith. Sophomore Kelsi Carr picked up a team-high three ground balls and caused a team-high three draws. Senior Geneva Calder won a game-high with six draws.
 
Kristen Ohberg and Hannah Elmber each notched a game-high seven points for the Red Dragons. Ohberg posted five goals and two assists, while Elmer chipped in two goals and five assists and shared a game-high with three caused turnovers. Tara Monaghan scooped up a game-high six ground balls, won three draws and registered three goals. Makenzie Annable produced two goals and an assist. Nicole Bello posted a goal and an assist.
 
The Herons opened the game with goals from junior Alexandra Bird and Gahagan. Annable posted Cortland's first goal of the game to make it 2-1. With 17:57 on the clock, Burns logged her fourth goal of the season. Ohberg recorded her first goal of the game with 8:09 remaining in the first half to make it 3-2. Gahagan notched her second goal of the game and fourth of the season off a feed from senior Hannah Connolly to give William Smith a 4-2 advantage. With 4:32 left in the game, Annable posted a free position goal and with just one second before the break, Ohberg snuck in her second goal of the game to tie the game at 4-4 at the break.
 
The Red Dragons notched the first four goals of the second half to build an 8-4 lead. With 20:04 on the clock, Connolly posted her team leading 14th goal of the season off a feed from Bird. Cortland then put together the next five goals for a 13-5 advantage. Burns notched her second goal of the afternoon on a free position and with the player-up advantage with 3:24 remaining. With six seconds left in the game, Monaghan scored off a pass from Ohberg for the final score.
 
Jaclyn Beshlian played all 60 minutes for Cortland and made six saves. Junior Sarah Honan made eight saves in all 60 minutes for William Smith. The Red Dragons were successful on 10-of-12 clear attempts, while the Herons went 9-for-20.
 
The Herons will be back in action on Friday, April 1, when they open Liberty League play at Skidmore at 4 p.m.