Despite battling back from a two goal deficit, the St. Lawrence University field hockey team came up short of upsetting nationally-ranked No. 18 William Smith College, falling 4-3 on Saturday afternoon on North Country Field.

The Saints move to 4-4 on the season with a 1-1 mark in the Liberty League. William Smith, led by sophomore Melanie O'Connor two unassisted goals, is 7-2 overall with a 1-1 record in the conference.

Though suffering the loss, sophomore goaltender Nicole Matos posted an impressive performance as she turned in 14 saves. Her counterpart, William Smith's Taryn Little, saved three of the shots she faced.

O'Connor opened up scoring at the 27:47 minute mark, spinning off a Saint defender and putting a hard shot by Matos on the near-side. The Saints evened the score at 1-1 when junior Ashley Ferenczy redirected a pass to senior Taylor Vogt who found the back of the net at 26:38.

William Smith would make it 2-1 when sophomore Taylor Cappello beat her defender and slid the ball past a diving Matos at the 15:12 minute mark. With :30 seconds left in the first half, O'Connor scored her second goal of the game when she knocked home a rebound off a Matos save to give the visitors a 3-1 advantage at the half.

The Saints didn't waste any time out of the half, as senior Emily Riley found classmate Erika Swits on a fast-break who slipped the ball past Little to cut the deficit to one at 3-2.

William Smith had two excellent chances to extend its lead around the 28:00 minute mark, however Matos made a diving save off a 1-on-1 attempt by a Heron forward, and followed that up with a deflection of a stroke attempt by William Smith's Annie Kietzman.

Around the 15:00 mark, Riley tallied her second assist of the game when she found first-year student Carly Stine at the back post off a corner, who one-timed it past Little to even the score at 3-3.

With under 3:00 minutes remaining in the second half, the Herons earned their second penalty stroke of the game when the ball was pinned under Matos during a scuffle in the goal mouth. Though Matos got a piece of her stick on the stroke attempt, sophomore Morgan Atanasio beat the Saint goaltender to the left and low, to bring the score to 4-3. The Saints had one more solid chance to even the score when they were awarded a corner with no time remaining in the game. The Herons, however, were able to hang on for the win.

William Smith held advantages over St. Lawrence in both shots (20-9) and penalty corners (15-8).

St. Lawrence will battle St. John Fisher on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The contest is slated to begin at 5:00pm in Rochester, NY.