TROY, N.Y.—William Smith College junior Allie McGinty recorded a season-high seven points as the third-ranked Herons defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 17-7 in a Liberty League game at ECAV Stadium this afternoon. With the victory, the Herons are now 14-0 overall this season with an 8-0 mark in conference play. William Smith is 14-0 for the first time since 1995.
 
The win secures the Herons at least a share of the Liberty League regular season title and locks up home-field advantage for the Liberty League tournament. With two games remaining in the regular season, St. Lawrence (7-5, 6-2) is the only team that can catch the Herons. William Smith defeated the Saints on March 25 and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
 
McGinty's seven points included three goals and four assists. The Rumson, New Jersey, native has recorded a point in each of her last 35 games. Senior Maddie Montgomery was right behind her with five points on four goals and an assist, extending her point streak to 29 games. First-year Natalie Daniels and senior Molly Davis shared game-high honors with four draw controls each. Senior Liza Diffley picked up a game-high three ground balls. Sophomore Maura Smeader started in goal and made six saves.
 
RPI (9-4, 4-4) was led by Mia Banglmaier had three points on two goals and an assist. Rylie Maready and Molly McDonald had three draw controls each. Maready recorded a game-high two caused turnovers. Olivia Kimball played all 60 minutes in goal for the Engineers. She made eight saves.
 
KEY STATS

• William Smith finished the contest with a 32-15 advantage in shots and a 13-9 lead in ground balls. The Herons won the battle in the draw circle 18-9.
• William Smith was 15-15 clearing the ball. RPI was 15-for-17 on its clearing attempts.
• This is the third time in program history that the Herons have started the season 14-0 (1995, 1996).

 
INSIDE THE GAME

• William Smith jumped out to a 2-0 lead 90 seconds into the game. Montgomery opened the scoring, firing home a free position shot for her first goal of the game and 48th goal of the season. Thirteen seconds later, sophomore Katherine Murray collected a pass from McGinty and bounced a shot across the goal line. It was Murray's 24th goal of the year.
• The Engineers answered with goals from Maready and Banglmaier. Banglmaier's free position attempt made it 2-2 with 10:20 left in the opening frame.
• Senior Payton McMahon gave William Smith a 3-2 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the first quarter. She dunked home a pass from McGinty for her 24th goal of the season.
• The Engineers tied the game at 3-3 with just over 10 minutes left in the first half. Sophie Goddard collected a pass from Banglmaier and slipped a shot past Smeader.
• The Herons used a five-goal run late in the second quarter to pull away from the Engineers. McGinty kickstarted the run with her 17th goal of the season. Just over a minute later, junior Emily Griffin scored her seventh goal of the season. Senior Kaitlin Pellechia was awarded an assist on both goals.
• First-year Natalie Daniels gave William Smith a 6-3 lead with her 22nd goal of the year. Forty-two seconds later McGinty collected her 18th goal of the year. Both tallies were unassisted. With 28 seconds left in the half, Daniels notched her second goal of the game.
• RPI opened the second half with back-to-back goals from Banglmaier and Megan Shay to make it 8-5, but that would be as close as RPI would make it. Both Engineer goals were unassisted strikes.
• With 11:02 remaining in the third quarter, Murray fired home a free position shot for her second goal of the game. Forty-one seconds later, Montgomery dodged around a defender and ripped a shot past the RPI goalie. Her 49th goal of the year was unassisted. Montgomery completed her hat trick with a free position goal late in the frame.
• Maready tacked on a goal for the Engineers to close out the stanza.
• William Smith extended its lead to 10 goals, scoring the first five goals of the final frame. McMahon started the run with her second goal of the game. Daniels, McGinty, Pellechia and Montgomery added goals as the Herons took a 16-6 lead with 8:57 remaining in regulation.
• Ella Graff and Murray scored for RPI and William Smith, respectively, to close out the game.

 
CAREER NUMBERS

• With four assists in today's game, Allie McGinty has 91 for her career. She is second on William Smith's all-time list. McGinty also moved up the career points list. She now has 155 points, tied for 23rd with Rosie Schiebel '12
• Montgomery also continued her climb up the career goals and points list. She now has 170 career goals and 213 points which are sixth and seventh on William Smith's all-time lists, respectively.

 
UP NEXT
William Smith will be back in action tomorrow, April 22, when it takes on Union College in Schenectady, New York. The opening draw is scheduled for 2 p.m.