GENEVA, N.Y.—The William Smith College lacrosse team closed out its 2015 season with a 15-8 victory over visiting Rensselaer in a Liberty League game played on Boswell Field this afternoon. Senior Hayley Braun, junior Emy Stratton and sophomore Alexandra Bird each posted a game-high five points.
 
The Herons finished the year with a 7-9 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the Liberty League. William Smith finished the year tied for fourth in the conference standings, but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Yellowjackets, due to Rochester's win over the Herons during the regular season.
 
Braun posted a goal and four assists for her career-high of five points, while Stratton logged five goals in the win for William Smith. Braun also added four ground balls and a game-high three caused turnovers. Bird recorded four goals and an assist. First-year Melissa Moore chipped in two goals and an assist. Sophomore Allie Flaherty notched two goals and two assists. Stratton, Moore and Flaherty each won three draws. Senior Rachel Hughes picked up a game-high six ground balls. Sophomore Sarah Honan played all 60 minutes in goal and finished with 10 saves.
 
Braun and Hughes were playing in their final collegiate game for William Smith this afternoon. The pair have helped the Herons to a 34-33 overall record and a 27-9 mark in the Liberty League in their four years on the team. Hughes finishes her career ranked second on the William Smith list for career caused turnovers with 116. She's fifth on the Heron list for career ground balls with 178 and seventh on the list for career draws with 95.
 
Rensselear finishes its season with a 6-8 overall record and a 4-5 record in Liberty League play. Erin Riley shared a game-high with five points on four goals and an assist. Mackenzie O'Neil logged two goals and Erin DeLucca added a goal and an assist. Jamie Wakefield picked up three ground balls and won a game-high seven draws. Erin Amarello played all 60 minutes in goal. She made 16 saves and picked up three ground balls.
 
Stratton started the scoring for the Herons 58 seconds in. Riley responded for RPI to tie things up at 1-1. Stratton and Bird posted back-to-back goals, but the Engineers responded with a tally by Mackenzie O'Neil to get within one with 24:37 on the clock. Flahery and Moore notched back-to-back goals this time for William Smith, but again Rensselaer answered with goals from Riley and DeLucca to cut the Heron advantage to 5-4. With 15:57 left in the first, Bird fed Moore to make it 6-4. The Engineers closed out the first half with three goals in a row to take a 7-6 lead into the break.
 
The Herons outscored RPI 9-1 in the second half. Braun opened a four-goal William Smith run with a woman-down tally 1:09 in. Bird followed with an unassisted tally to give the Herons an 8-7 lead. Braun set up Stratton and Flaherty logged an unassisted goal to make it 10-7 with 20:56 remaining. Wakefield fed Erin Riley for RPI's lone second half goal with 17:09 on the clock. William Smith then closed out the game with five straight goals. First-year Ella Calder collected a pass from Flaherty for her sixth goal of the year. Braun set up Stratton again and Flaherty posted another assist, this time to Bird to make it 13-8. Bird posted an unassisted goal, her 47th of the season, with 3:09 remaining and Stratton added her 24th of the year off a pass from Moore with 2:24 on the clock for the final.
 
William Smith finished with a 35-20 advantage in shots, a 25-16 lead in ground balls and a 14-11 edge in draws. The Herons were successful on all but four clear attempts (14-for-18) and RPI finished 12-of-19 tries.