GENEVA, N.Y.-The 18th-ranked William Smith College lacrosse team cruised to a 17-4 victory over St. Lawrence in a Liberty League contest on Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium this afternoon. With their eighth straight victory, the Herons are now 10-2 overall this season and 6-0 in Liberty League play.
 
Sophomore Ellie Burns led the way for William Smith, scoring a career-high six goals. Junior Rachel Slagle had four assists for the Herons. Senior Bizzer Gahagan and sophomores Anna Murphy, Sadie Mapstone, and Rachel Yackel each had two goals. Sophomore Ellen Arena had a game-high four ground balls and sophomore Mekayla Montgomery caused four turnovers. Sophomore Olivia Hofmann made five saves as she earned the victory in goal.
 
Emma Owens had two goals for St. Lawrence (2-8, 1-4). Kylie Murphy also had a multi-point game, finishing with a goal and an assist. Olga Lukas finished with a team-high four ground balls. Lukas made 10 saves in goal for the Saints.
 
The Herons opened the scoring just over a minute into the game. Murphy beat her defender and fired home her 14th goal of the season. With 24:38 remaining in the half, junior Nicki Santora made it 2-0 with her 15th goal of the season. Two minutes later, Gahagan picked up a loose ball in front of the crease and flipped a shot past Lukas. Her 12th goal of the season was unassisted. Yackel and Gahagan scored woman-up, free position goals 20 seconds apart to give William Smith a 5-0 lead with just over 18 minutes remaining in the first half. Yackel's goal was her 17th of the season and Gahagan's was her 13th. Mapstone extended the Herons run to six goals with her 10th tally of the season.
 
Alexandra LaMotte broke up the shutout bid with 12:26 remaining in the first half. Hannah Drechsel was credited with an assist on the goal after forcing a turnover and running the ball the length of the field. She fired a cross crease pass to LaMotte who deked Hofmann and buried the scoring attempt.
 
William Smith closed out the first half on a four goal run. Yackel raced the length of the field and beat Lukas for her second goal of the game. Thirty seconds later Burns notched her first goal of the game. Her 32nd goal of the season was an unassisted goal. Murphy and Burns added free position strikes in the closing minutes of the half.
 
Burns completed her hat trick 42 seconds into the second half. She collected a pass from Slagle on the doorstep and flipped it into the back of the net. Four minutes later, Owens scored off a feed from Murphy for her 10th goal of the season. Mapstone's 11th goal of the season gave William Smith a 10 goal lead with 24:10 remaining in regulation. With ten minutes left in the second half, Murphy scored for the Saints to make it 12-3.
 
Burns scored the game's next three goals to bring her season total to 37 goals. Slagle assisted on her first two strikes of the natural hat trick and first-year Payton McMahon assisted on the third goal. Sophomore Kelsey Williams' fifth goal of the season gave the Herons a 16-3 lead. Slagle was credited with her fourth assist of the half on the goal.
 
Owens scored her second goal of the game with 1:20 left in regulation. Sophomore Ellie Nowak's first collegiate goal rounded out the scoring with 25 seconds remaining in regulation. Sophomore Katie Consoli was credited with an assist on the goal.
 
William Smith took control of the game from the opening whistle. The Herons finished with a 33-10 edge in shots and a 17-14 advantage in ground balls. William Smith was a perfect 17-of-17 clearing the ball and St. Lawrence was 17-of-20 on clear attempts.
 
The Herons will be back in action on Wednesday, April 10, when they welcome Ithaca to Geneva, N.Y. Opening draw with the Bombers is scheduled for 4 p.m.