The Ithaca College women's lacrosse team slipped past William Smith College 8-6 in a non-league game played in Ithaca, N.Y., this afternoon. It was the Herons' final non-league game of the season.
 
William Smith falls to 4-7 overall, while the Bombers, who are receiving votes in the latest IWLCA poll, improve to 8-3 overall. It was the fourth game this season for the Herons decided by two or less goals.
 
Senior Geneva Calder and junior Alexandra Bird each notched two goals for William Smith. Sophomore Cat Wolf led the Herons with a game-high four caused turnovers and shared a game-high with five ground balls. Junior goalie Sarah Honan finished with eight saves.
 
Danika Wagener led Ithaca with three goals. Riley Marion added two goals. Gaby Berne scored one goal and shared a team-high with five ground balls and won two draws. Molly Long notched two assists and added two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Allison Panara chipped in a goal and an assist as well as two draws. Emily Ross played the opening 30 minutes and made 10 saves. Kimberly Presuto came in for the second half and made two saves.
 
William Smith did not wait long to get on the board. Geneva Calder won the opening draw and carried the ball all the way in, scoring her ninth goal of the season to give the Herons a 1-0 lead. With 19:04 on the clock, Wagener scored her first of the afternoon to tie things up at 1-1 for Ithaca. Marion made it 2-1 for the Bombers off an assist from Morgan Racicot with 12:29 left in the first. Bird snuck a low shot past the Ithaca goalie to make it 2-2 with 10:06 before the break. Just 39 seconds later, Julia Silvestri took back the lead for Ithaca after a pass from Panara. With less than five minutes before the break, junior Allie Flaherty clanged a shot off the right post and Bird banged a shot off the post on a free position chance. With 1:12 on the clock, Wagener struck again this time after a feed from Long to give the Bombers a 4-2 lead at halftime.
 
Just 1:59 into the second half, Marion gave Ithaca a 5-2 advantage with a free position goal. Bird tallied her second goal of the day for the Herons with 25:14 on the clock. She ran the ball in from about 15 yards out, faked and found the back of the net. Geneva Calder followed with her second of the day to get William Smith within one with 16:12 to go. Berne responded for the Bombers, putting them up 6-4 with 13:57 remaining. A goal by sophomore Ali Burns made it 6-5 with 12:48 on the clock. Shortly after, the Bombers had a two player breakaway, but Honan stepped up and made the big save for William Smith with 12:39 on the remaining. With 10:15 on the clock, Wagener scored her second of the day after a pass from Long to make it 7-5. However, sophomore Melissa Moore got William Smith within one yet again with a slow bouncing free position goal with 3:38 to go. Once again, the Bombers responded. This time it was Panara who extended the Bombers lead to two at 8-6 with 2:08 left in the game.
 
The Herons held a 28-18 advantage in shots and a 21-19 edge in ground balls, but the Bombers controlled things at the draw, posting a 12-4 lead. William Smith was successful on 16-of-22 clear attempts, while Ithaca went 16-for-21 on clears.
 
The Herons will be back in action on Friday, April 15, when they travel to RIT for a Liberty League game at 4 p.m.