The Blue and Gold blew open a 6–2 halftime lead to defeat William Smith College 16–7 yesterday in their home finale at Carp Wood Field. The win capped an undefeated regular season on their home turf and was the largest margin of victory against the Herons since 1983.

Senior attack Kylie McClure had a team-high four goals — all of which came after a hard fall on her elbow sidelined her for a few minutes early in the game. Junior midfielder Ali DeCirce said that the team was mentally shaken up at first upon losing the 15th best scorer in the program’s history, but was able to keep their composure.

“Mentally it shook us up a little,” DeCirce said. “But once we got over the mental hump we saw we had three girls behind her on the bench that could step up and play.”

The two teams traded goals for the first 15 minutes, with William Smith not allowing many second chances, until Ithaca went on a 7–1 run that extended into the second half. Junior midfielder Katie Hurley scored two goals on the run. McClure said the team was trying to play keep away for most of the first half and wait for lanes to open up.

“We knew that William Smith liked to run and gun so we were trying to keep possession on the offense end,” McClure said.

Two goals in under a minute cut the Bombers’ lead to four, but the South Hill Squad came back with four goals to win their ninth game of the regular season. DeCirce said that the team’s execution on offense started with the defense making plays to motivate the midfielders.

“Having a step on defense, you just have to respond that well on the attack,” DeCirce said. “When I see that a defender makes a big stop or have an interception of a pass it makes me play that much harder and want to finish the play for them.”

The Herons played a zone defense by crowding one side and trying to trap the Ithaca attack, but senior Courtney Dowell made eight saves in goal for her third straight win and led the team in ground balls with four. Senior midfielder Kassie Garfield forced a turnover to move up to eighth on the all-time list in program history with 55.

Dowell said the team did a good job of releasing from the defenders so she could pull back her stick and connect on long passes over the top.

“The did a rally good job of getting open and doing low cuts so I could get the long pass off,” Dowell said.

The Bombers wrapup conference play against against Nazareth College Saturday in Rochester, N.Y.