The William Smith College ice hockey team dropped an ECAC West contest to Utica 6-3 this afternoon. Three different Herons scored goals as William Smith fought to overcome an early first period deficit.
The Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period when Morgan Reed and Jennifer Arts scored three seconds apart. Nicole Schwartz dished a pass to Reed who drilled the shot into the goal. Arts collected a pass from Mackenzie Roy and fired a shot past the goalie. Four minutes later, Samantha Pucci scored to give Utica a 3-0 advantage.
The Herons closed the gap to 3-1 when Grace Durham<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5541> scored her first goal of the year. Dori Craig<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5539> sent a pass to Durham who tucked the puck into the net.
Utica extended the lead to 4-1 just over two minutes into the second period. Reed and Schwartz connected on a give and go for the second time on the afternoon. The goal was a power play goal for the Pioneers. Three and a half minutes later, Roy picked up a goal of her own extending Utica’s lead to 5-1.
William Smith would not go quietly however. Krista Federow<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5542> notched her first goal of the season when she collected a pass from Craig before burying a shot in the back of the net. With 1:15 remaining in the second period, Catherine Linehan<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5545> scored a power play goal to make it a two goal game. Durham and Lizzy Weingast<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5553> were credited with the assists.
Roy added an insurance goal in the third period to secure the victory for the Pioneers.
Maggie Salmon<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5549> started and played 34:29 in net for the Herons making 13 saves. Megan Messuri<http://hwsathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5547> relieved Salmon and made 22 saves. Marissa McNamara started between the pipes for Utica and made 11 stops.
The Pioneers outshot William Smith 41-14. While both team netted a power play goal, Utica was 1-7 and the Herons were 1-4 with the man advantage.
William Smith returns to the ice Saturday, Nov. 15 and Sunday, Nov. 16 when they travel to Potsdam, New York for a weekend series with the Potsdam Bears.
Box Score<http://hwsathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=wsih&id=22175>
