#6 William Smith soccer downs Rensselaer 6-0

GENEVA, New York — The No. 6 William Smith College soccer team jumped out to a three-goal lead in the  first half and went on to down visiting Rensselaer 6-0 in a Liberty League game played today on Cozzens Field. It's the Herons fifth straight win and fifth straight shutout.

William Smith is now 6-1-1 overall and 2-0-0 in Liberty League play. The Engineers fall to 5-4-2 overall and 1-1-0 in the conference. The Herons' six goals are the most they have scored in a game since defeating Bard 6-0 on Oct. 3, 2014.

Juniors Brie Ruane and Lauren Randaccio each registered two goals in the win. Sophomore Evie
Manning chipped in two assists. First-year goalie Kaileen Murray stopped the lone shot she faced to secure her sixth shutout this year.

Just 11:26 in, junior Kara Shue broke through for the Herons. Manning sent a short cross inside the box to find Shue who had a one-on-one with RPI keeper Tori Riopelle. Shue put her shot out of Riopelle's reach to make it 1-0. In the 22nd minute, Ruane netted her second goal of the season. She lofted a shot from the right side that sailed into the top left corner of the goal. Randaccio then extended the Herons' lead to three with her first goal of the year just 6:28 later when she one-touched a cross from first-year Sarah Olick-Sutphen.

Ruane opened the second half scoring with her second goal of the day in the 51sst minute. Junior Shay Callahan pushed a short pass ahead to Ruane who beat the keeper to make it 4-0. In the 71st minute, junior MacKenzie Smith played the ball into the box from the right side. Her pass deflected off of Manning and went right to Randaccio who sent home her shot to put William Smith up 5-0. In the 89th minute, first-year Megan Richard logged her first collegiate goal. She placed her long shot into the top right corner of the goal for the final score.

One of the Engineers best scoring chances came in the 75th minute. RPI was awarded a free kick just outside of the box. Meghan Carlo took the free kick, but her shot was blocked by the wall of Heron defenders. The deflection came to Catie Mann who fired her shot on goal, but Murray made the save to preserve the shutout.

The Herons finished with a 29-5 advantage in total shots and a 13-1 lead in corners. Riopelle played the first 81:52 and made six saves. Danielle Balestrini played the final 8:08.

William Smith will be back in action tomorrow, Oct. 3, when it hosts Skidmore for another Liberty League contest at 2 p.m.