The William Smith senior Alexandra Bird led the Heron lacrosse team with seven points on four goals and three assists in an 8-4 win over No. 13 Hamilton in Clinton, N.Y. It's the first time William Smith has defeated the Continentals since 2006.
 
The Herons improve to 2-0 this season. Hamilton is now 1-1. Junior Melissa Moore scored two goals and added an assist, picked up three ground balls and won two draws for William Smith. Junior Ali Burns added a goal and an assist. Sophomore Bizzer Gahagan won a game-high six draws. Senior Sarah Honan made eight saves in goal for the Herons.
 
Nora Klemmer scored two goals for Hamilton. Morgan Fletcher chipped in a goal and an assist and grabbed three ground balls. Casey File also recorded three ground balls. Hannah Burrall started the game for the Continentals and made four saves. Hannah Rubin played the second half and made two saves.
 
Hamilton scored the first two goals of the game, but the Herons answered with a 3-0 run of their own to take a 3-2 lead into halftime. Bird scored the first two William Smith goals off assists from Burns and Moore, respectively. Her second goal of the game marked her 100th career goal. Bird is the 21st Heron to reach the 100 career goals mark. With 2:54 before the break, Moore gave the Herons their first lead of the game off a feed from Bird.
 
Goals by Fletcher and Klemmer early in the second half gave Hamilton a 4-3 advantage. However, William Smith put together a five-goal run to close out the game and earn the win. Bird opened the run. A little over a minute later, Bird fed Moore to give the Herons a 5-4 advantage. First-year Rachel Slagle set up a Burns goal and an unassisted tally by Bird made it 7-4 with 3:55 to go. With 2:34 remaining, Gahagan notched a woman-up goal after a pass from Bird.
 
William Smith finished with an 18-13 advantage in shots. Hamilton held a 16-14 edge in ground balls. The Herons went 16-for-18 on clears, while the Continentals were 12-for-15.
 
The Herons will be back in action on Friday, March 10, when they play Nazareth at the Pinnacle Athletic Campus at 8 p.m.