Potsdam, NY – Junior Samantha Gladd made a career-high 15 saves, including nine in the second half, to help lead the Clarkson University Women's Lacrosse team to a 9-4 victory over 15th-ranked William Smith College Friday afternoon on a snowy day at Hantz Turf Field.

The Golden Knights won their sixth straight contest to improve to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the Liberty League, while the Herons dropped to 7-4 overall and 4-1 in conference games. Clarkson faces 16th-rated Ithaca College on Saturday afternoon.

Gladd's previous career-high for saves was 12, which she recorded last April 14 against University of Rochester. It was her third game in double figures for saves in 2018.

For the first nine minutes of the game, Clarkson dominated play with a pair of goals and forced William Smith into five turnovers with no shots. Emma Andrews converted on a free position attempt and Katie Sergeant scored off her own rebound to give the Knights a 2-0 lead in the opening four minutes. The Knights would have enjoyed a larger lead had it not been for the play of William Smith goalkeeper Jules Kennedy, who made five saves in that stretch.

The Herons weathered the early energy of Clarkson and cut the margin in half with its own free position goal from Rachel Yackel at 20:39, but neither team was able to change the number in its scoring column for the next 14 minutes as both defenses played well with the goalkeepers matching each other save for save. Clarkson finally converted at the 6:12 mark when Marisa Clark received a pass in front from Abby Collins and took a quick step past the defense to make it 3-1. Less than three minutes later Sergeant used a spin move in the open field to create some space to put the Knights up 4-1. It appeared as if William Smith might get some momentum for the second half, but what appeared to be a goal for the Herons was waived off and kept the score 4-1 at the break.

After a lengthy delay for snow removal, Aubrey Borgesi capitalized on a mistake by Kennedy, who was well out of the net, as the Herons turned the ball over and Borgesi won the race to the net for a goal two minutes into the half. A few moments later Andrews scored on another free position attempt to give Clarkson a 6-1 advantage, but William Smith won the next two draws and used one of those possessions to cut into the Green and Gold's lead. The Herons edged back to within three, but on the ensuing draw Abby Collins was struck in the face with a William Smith stick, putting Clarkson up a player after the yellow card. The Knights took advantage as Taylor Collins found Katie Sergeant in front to make it 7-3, but again William Smith responded to nudge back within three. For the next 10-plus minutes, the goalkeepers played impressively, with both Kennedy and Gladd denying several shots on free position attempts.

In the final six minutes, Clarkson put the game away with goals from both Abby Collins and Taylor Collins. The younger Collins scored shortly after a free position attempt to make it 8-4 with 5:40 to go, and then Lexi Smith found Taylor Collins in front at 2:47 for a 9-4 lead, which proved to be the final margin.

Clarkson finished with a 32-26 edge in shots, though William Smith held a 17-13 lead in the second half. The Herons also reduced their turnovers in the final 30 minutes, finishing with 21 overall after committing 15 miscues in the first half.

Katie Sergeant ended the game with three goals and Emma Andrews tacked on two scores for the Knights. Both Abby Collins and Taylor Collins contributed a goal and an assist apiece, with Collins first point of the game giving her 100 for her career. Abby Collins also added three caused turnovers and four groundballs.

For William Smith, Nicki Santora scored two goals and Rachel Yackel and Ali Burns each added a score. Jules Kennedy concluded the contest with 13 saves, seven groundballs and two caused turnovers.