The William Smith College soccer team moved up one spot to No. 1 in the nation in the NSCAA poll this week. The Herons remained at No. 1 in the D3soccer.com poll for the third week in a row.
 
William Smith is off to a perfect 8-0-0 start to the season. It's the Herons' best start to a season since 2007, when William Smith opened the year by winning its first eight matches. That year the Herons went 15-0-1 in the regular season, won two Liberty League tournament games before logging their only loss of the year to Worcester State in the NCAA tournament.  
 
William Smith has recorded shutouts in four of its last five matches, and is outscoring its opponents 31-4. Senior Kara Shue leads the team with 18 points on seven goals and four assists. She leads the Liberty League in goals, assists and points. Junior Evie Manning and senior Brie Ruane have each notched nine points. Sophomore Veronica Romines has played the most minutes in goal. She's sporting a 0.23 goals against average, a .833 save percentage and a 5-0-0 record. Romines has earned two shutouts this fall. She sits atop the league and ranks 12th in the nation in goals against average.
 
The Herons are back in action with two Liberty League games this weekend. William Smith travels to Skidmore on Friday, Sept. 30 for a 4 p.m. game and then plays at Rensselaer at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1.