The William Smith lacrosse team dropped a Liberty League contest at Clarkson this afternoon. The Golden Knights built a 4-1 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the Herons 9-4.
 
William Smith is now 7-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play. Clarkson improves to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the Liberty League.
 
Sophomore Nicki Santora scored two goals and first-year Rachel Yackel had one goal. First-year Jules Kennedy had a game-high seven ground balls, two caused turnovers and a season-high 13 saves.
 
Katie Sergeant led Clarkson with three goals and a game-high four draws. Taylor Collins and Abby Collins each added a goal and an assist, and Emma Andrews scored twice. Abby Collins registered a game-high three caused turnovers. Samantha Gladd had 15 saves in goal for the Golden Knights.
 
Andrews opened the scoring for Clarkson with a free position goal just two minutes in. Just over two minutes later, Sergeant made it 2-0. Yackel put the Herons on the board with a free position goal with 20:39 left in the first. Marisa Clark gave the Golden Knights a 3-1 edge scoring off an assist from Abby Collins with 6:12 on the clock and Sergeant notched her second of the day with 3:33 to go in the first to give Clarkson a 4-1 advantage at halftime.
 
Clarkson notched the first two goals of the second half to build a 6-1 lead. Aubrey Borgesi scored first followed by a free position tally by Andrews. Santora notched back-to-back goals to get the Herons within three with 19:25 remaining. Her second goal came off an assist from first-year Anna Murphy. Sergeant completed her hat trick with a woman-up goal after a feed from Taylor Collins with 18:31 remaining. Senior Ali Burns put the Herons back within three with 17:17 to go, but the Golden Knights registered two more goals in the final 5:40 for the final.
 
Clarkson finished with a 32-26 advantage in shots, a 21-18 edge in ground balls and an 8-7 lead in draws. The Herons were successful on 13-of-24 clear attempts, while the Golden Knights went 15-for-19.
 
William Smith is back in action tomorrow, April 7 at St. Lawrence at 3 p.m.