GENEVA, N.Y.— The William Smith field hockey team saw its season come to a close as fifth-seeded Skidmore upset the fourth-seeded Herons 1-0 this evening on McCooey Field. William Smith ends the 2024 season with a 9-10 overall record, while the Thoroughbreds move to 9-11 and advance to the semifinals against top-seeded Ithaca on Friday.

The back-and-forth battle between the Herons and the Thoroughbreds saw both sides trade momentum through 60 minutes of play. Skidmore held a 9-6 edge in shots in the conference matchup, including a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal. The Thoroughbreds also held a 7-3 edge in penalty corners, including two in the final quarter after William Smith pulled its goalie.

Senior Hannah Huston and sophomore Leah Griffith led the Herons with two shots each this afternoon. They combined for two shots on target in the loss. First-year Caroline Kogut and junior Abby Jones also played a key role in William Smith's offense against Skidmore and tallied one shot each.

First-year Baker Jeremiah played 55:55 in goal for the Herons before William Smith opted to add another field player to apply late pressure. She registered three saves in the loss and finishes her rookie season with a 9-10 record in goal.

MATCH MOMENTS:

• The first half saw an even battle between the Herons and the Thoroughbreds as both sides registered five shots each. William Smith held a 3-1 advantage in penalty corners in the first half and saw its best chance of the opening half when Griffith and Huston fired off back-to-back shots on a penalty corner in the 11th minute.
• Skidmore's best chance of the opening half came in the eighth minute when CC Wetter turned around her defender and fired off a shot that was blocked. The rebound fell perfectly to the stick of Beth Yorns but Jeremiah was there to make the diving stop to keep the game scoreless.
• The Thoroughbreds came out strong in the second half and applied the early pressure. They earned four penalty corners and fired off two shots to grab the momentum in the third.
• Skidmore got on the board at the 42:51 mark after a counterattack led to a two-on-one opportunity. Wetter slotted a pass to Colby Paul who was wide open in front of the net and buried a shot past Jeremiah to give the Thoroughbreds a 1-0 lead.
• With just over four minutes remaining, William Smith pulled their goalie to add an extra player to try and grab the momentum back.
• Skidmore was awarded back-to-back penalty corners with under a minute remaining in regulation with no Heron goalie in net. First-year Hadley Harbert stood tall and made the save for William Smith to keep the Herons hopes alive.
• The Thoroughbreds used the clock to their advantage and maintained possession for the remaining minute to close out the playoff matchup on top 1-0.  

COACHES CORNER:

"We fought really hard tonight against a tough Skidmore defense," said Head Coach Sophie Riskie '07. "We hadn't really spent much time practicing pulling our goalkeeper or defending penalty corners without a goalkeeper, and we stood strong under that kind of pressure. I'm so proud of the team not just for our efforts tonight but the growth we have made over the entire season.

While our season comes to an end tonight much sooner than we had hoped, this was very much a successful season, and we have so much to be proud of. We will build upon all of the great progress we made this year. We had a young group, and we made incredible growth over the course of the season. We owe a lot to the great leadership in our seniors and leadership group as well as our positive mindset and remarkable work ethic. This was a fun season and a great team."

CLASS OF 2025:

William Smith's class of 2025 finished their careers with an overall record of 46-32. Hannah Huston, Katherine Jacobia, Rebecca Mantione and Charlotte Rohlfs won back-to-back Liberty League Championships in 2022 and 2023 and made two-straight NCAA appearances.