The 25th-ranked William Smith soccer team hits the road this weekend, Oct. 18-19, for a pair of Liberty League games in the Capital District. The Herons will take on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union, concluding a stretch where they played seven of their last nine on the road.
 
William Smith will be in Troy, New York, Friday at 4 p.m. to take on the Engineers. On Saturday, the Herons will head to Schenectady to face Union at 2 p.m. Fans who can't make the trip to the Capital District can follow all the action online. Friday's game will be covered by rpiathletics.com. Saturday's action can be found at unionathletics.com.
 
ABOUT THE HERONS

• William Smith is 6-3-3 overall with a 2-1-2 mark in conference play.
• Senior Marjorie Plants leads the team with five goals and 11 points.
• Senior Lindsay Ringbloom is right behind her with four goals and nine points.
• Junior Ruth Hotaling has a team-best seven assists.
• Graduate Student Kirsten Nelson has played the majority of the minutes in goal for the Herons. She has a 0.85 GAA and a .756 save percentage.

 
ABOUT THE ENGINEERS

• RPI enters the weekend with a 7-2-2 overall record and a 2-1-1 mark in the Liberty League.
• Sarah Sedlacek leads the team with 10 points on three goals and four assists.
• Brook Miller has a team-high four goals.
• Sierra Skelding and Megan Wampner have split time in goal for the Engineers. Skelding has a 0.60 GAA and an .889 save percentage. Wampner has a 1.40 GAA, and a .794 save percentage.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Friday will be the 37th meeting between the Herons and the Engineers.
• William Smith leads the all-time series 34-2-0, including a record of 13-2-0 in Troy.
• The teams met twice last season. The Herons won both meetings.

 
ABOUT THE GARNET CHARGERS

• Union enters the weekend with an 8-2-4 overall record this season with a 1-1-2 mark in league play. The Garnet Chargers will host Ithaca on Friday.
• Union is led by Taylor Bowardi with four goals and 10 points.
• Vanessa Jorgensen has a team-high three assists.
• Maya Koster has the edge in minutes played in goal. She is 5-1-3 with a 0.59 GAA and an .878 save percentage.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday will be the 39th meeting between Union and William Smith.
• The Herons lead the all-time series 27-9-2, including a mark of 9-7-0 in Schenectady
• The teams last met on Oct. 14, 2023, when the Herons shut out the Chargers 2-0. Nelson made eight saves in the shutout.

 
PLAYOFF PUSH

• Entering the weekend, the top six spots in the conference standings are separated by five points.
• Ithaca sits atop the league with 12 points.
• The Herons enter the weekend third in the standings with eight points, two behind Skidmore.
• Rensselaer is in a three-way tie for fourth with seven points.
• Union is just outside the playoff field in seventh with five points.