POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The weather was perfect, but the visiting Herons lacrosse team came out with the win at Weinberg Field on Saturday afternoon. Vassar was defeated 18-7 by the No. 17 William Smith team.

After Caeli Porette (Stony Point, NY) scored the opening goal, the Herons came out strong with a 3-0 run to take the lead. Tessa Waters (Skokie, IL) found the net off a Porette feed to cut the lead to 3-2, but William scored five unanswered to pull 8-2 with six minutes left in the half.

Senior Emily Hamburger (Clarksville, MD) picked up Haydn Hallman (Bechtelsville, PA) at 3:49 for the next Brewers' score. Kelly Pushie (Mahwah, NJ) found net off a Alessandra Fable (Orlando, FL) feed for the final Vassar goal of the half, but the Brewers still trailed 10-4 at intermission.

Pushie returned the favor to Fable at 24:17, finding Fable in front of the net for the open goal. Waters and Fiona MacLeod (Garden City, NY) tacked on two more scores, but an eight-goal Herons half secured the win.  

Pushie led the Brewers with three points on one goal and an assist, while Waters, Porette and Fable each had two points. Sydney Nemphos (Baltimore, MD) led Vassar with four groundballs. MacLeod and Nemphos had three caused turnovers each.

Freshman Jackie Malloy (Buffalo Grove, IL) started in goal and made 11 saves.

Vassar is home for their next three games, starting with RPI at 4 p.m. on Friday. Senior day is on Saturday against Ithaca at 2 p.m.