The No. 16 William Smith lacrosse team built a 15-1 lead in the first half and went on to take down Buffalo State 21-2 in a non-conference game played today in Buffalo, N.Y. With their fourth straight win, the Herons improve to 7-3 this season.
 
It was the most goals scored in a game by William Smith since a 21-13 win over Clarkson on April 2, 2011. The Bengals fall to 4-4 this year.
 
Senior Ali Burns led the Herons with five points on three goals and two assists. Senior Sarah Benyo and first-year Rachel Yackel logged three goals, senior Melissa Moore notched two goals and an assist, and first-year Kelsey Williams produced goal and two assists. Senior Kelsi Carr added two goals, three ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore Nicki Santora also scooped up three ground balls and added a caused turnover. First-year Anna Murphy had a goal and a team-high four draws. First-year Jules Kennedy played the opening 19:12 in goal, and classmate Olivia Hofmann came in for the final 40:48 and made three saves.
 
Christina Krowel scored both of the Bengals' goals and won three draws. Jackie Dufresne earned a game-high six draws. Elyse Stark played the whole game in goal for Buffalo State and had three saves.
 
Carr started the scoring for William Smith 44 seconds in. Krowel answered for Buffalo State just under two minutes later to tie the game at 1-1, however, the Heron rattled off the next 14 goals to close out the first half and then opened the second half scoring five straight goals.
 
Yackel opened the run with a free position goal followed by an unassisted tally from Benyo before a free position goal from Moore. First-year Sadie Mapstone found the back of the net for the 10th time this season before a free position tally from Benyo. A free position goal from Carr, her third goal this year, gave the Herons a 7-1 advantage with 18:19 to go in the first. Burns followed with back-to-back goals, and Moore made it 10-1 after a feed from Williams. Moore leads the Herons with 23 goals this year. Burns chipped in her 16th goal of the season for her second hat trick this year. Murphy recorded her seventh goal this year off an assist from Williams, and senior Bailey Ebby followed with her second goal this year. Benyo produced her fourth hat trick this spring off a pass from Ali Burns and sophomore Bizzer Gahagan closed out the first half scoring after a pass from Burns. It was Gahagan's seventh goal this year.
 
Yackel scored first to open the second half. First-year Delia Lawver and Shayla Meehan followed with their first collegiate goals. Williams made it 19-1 with her seventh goal this year with 19:34 on the clock. Santora posted her fifth goal of the spring with 15:01 remaining. Krowel tallied her second goal of the afternoon for the Bengals with 9:15 left in the game. Yackel scored the final goal of the game for the Herons with 3:19 to go. It marked her seventh goal this year and her first collegiate hat trick.
 
The Herons finished with a 29-5 advantage in shots and a 16-3 lead in ground balls. Buffalo State held a 13-11 edge at the draw circle. William Smith was successful on 8-of-9 clear attempts, while the Bengals finished 2-of-6 clears.
 
The Herons are back in action on Friday, April 6, when they travel to Clarkson for a Liberty League game at 4 p.m.