GENEVA, N.Y. — William Smith College sophomore midfielder Molly Davis and senior attack Ellie Burns each netted a hat trick to lead the 19th-ranked William Smith College lacrosse team to 12-8 victory over RIT on Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium this afternoon. With the weekend sweep of the Tigers, the Herons are now 6-4 overall this season and 6-2 in Liberty League play.
 
Davis, a native of Kennebunk, Maine, had her finger prints all over the stat sheet this afternoon. She had a career-high six caused turnovers and six ground balls. The six CTOs were the most by a Heron since senior Mekayla Montgomery had six against Cabrini in 2019 and are one off the single-game record. In fact, William Smith's 25 caused turnovers matched William Smith's single game record of 25 that it had against Nazareth on March 10, 2018. Montgomery finished the day with five caused turnovers.
 
Burns and Davis added an assist each to finish with a game-high four points. Sophomore Maddie Montgomery finished with two goals and senior Sadie Mapstone also had a multi-point game. Mekayla Montgomery won a team-high six draws. First-year Maddie Bamberger started in goal and made two saves in the first half. Fellow first-year Kristen McCormick made two saves in the second half.
 
RIT (6-4, 2-4) was led by Steph Darrell who had three points on a goal and two assists. Alanna Fallone and McKenna Joint had two goals each. Fallone also won a game-high seven draws. Three Tigers finished with a team-high two ground balls. Paulina Goodermote played all 60 minutes and made a career-high 22 saves in goal for RIT.
 
Davis opened the scoring at the 27:35 mark of the first half. She dodged around a defender and fired a shot past Goodermote for her seventh goal of the year. Five minutes later, Burns and senior Anna Murphy had scoring opportunities off of free position attempts, but Murphy's shot was stopped and Burns just missed the right goal post.
 
The Tigers tied the game with 18:35 left in the first half. Olivia Africa collected a feed from Darrell and beat Bamberger for her 25th goal of the season. One minute later, Rose Core gave RIT its only lead of the game. She bounced a shot past Bamberger for her third goal of the season. Darrell was credited with an assist on the goal. William Smith regained the lead on goals from Maddie Montgomery and Mapstone. Montgomery's 27th goal of the season and was unassisted after a brilliant individual effort; Mapstone's was her third of the season. Burns was credited with an assist on the Mapstone goal. The Tigers tied the game at 3-3 on Joint's 10th goal of the season. The Herons closed out the first half with goals from Burns and Montgomery. Burns' goal was set up by Mapstone and Montgomery's was unassisted.
 
RIT cut the lead to one on Fallone's 45th goal of the season, but that would be as close as it would get. William Smith used a 3-0 run to extend the lead to 8-4 thanks to goals from first-year Chloe McGlynn, Davis and junior Payton McMahon. Fallone notched her second goal of the game with 20:40 left in regulation, bouncing a shot past McCormick. Four minutes later, Kayleigh Ground beat McCormick with a free position attempt for her sixth goal of the season.
 
Just past the midway-point of the second half, Burns pocketed her second goal of the game off a feed from Davis. Darrell answered back for the Tigers scoring her 12th goal of the season on a free position shot. William Smith put the game out of reach with another 3-0 run in the final 10 minutes. Williams scored her seventh goal of the season dodging around the back of the cage and sneaking a shot past Goodermote. Six minutes later, Burns completed her hat trick on a one-touch pass from first-year Allie McGinty. With 2:18 left in regulation, Davis intercepted a Goodermote clearing attempt, took two steps and fired home her third goal of the day. Joint rounded out the scoring for RIT.
 
William Smith dominated the stat sheet, outshooting the Tigers 45-14. The Herons finished with a 32-12 edge in ground balls and an outstanding 25-5 margin in caused turnovers. Both teams finished with 11 draw controls. William Smith was a perfect 20-for-20 clearing the ball and limited RIT to an 18-for-32 in clear attempts.
 
The Herons wrap up their regular season next Saturday, April 24, when they take on Brockport. Opening draw is scheduled for 1 p.m.