GENEVA, NY – Playing it is third straight overtime contest, the University of Rochester field hockey team picked up a key win to open Liberty League conference play, topping William Smith College 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at McCooey Field.
 
UR senior Claire Dickerson netted the game-winning goal, her fifth of the season, six minutes into the extra session, converting on a 2-on-1 give-and-go with teammate Olivia Denny.  After the final pass was made, Dickerson juked William Smith keeper Emily King and tapped it in for the goal.
 
16th-ranked Rochester moves to 6-2 on the season and is 1-0 in the conference while the 18th-ranked Herons also drop to 6-2, and are 0-1 in the Liberty League.
 

Rochester was able to convert the first score of the game at 13:30 off of a beautifully designed penalty corner play, confusing the Heron defense in the process.  Denny inserted the pass to the top of the circle to Colleen Maillie who tipped it to the left to teammate Maya Haigis who slid the ball across the circle to a wide open Courtney Dunham who blasted a shot to the low left corner for a 1-0 Yellowjacket lead.
 
Eight minutes later, William Smith's Hannah Wood was denied on a point blank chance up close inside the circle by UR's Kiran Sundaram in the cage.  Less than a minute later, Wood had another blast off a penalty corner kicked away by Sundaram, with a follow up opportunity swatted off the line by Maillie for a defensive save.
 
At 24:03, Wood was again denied, this time on a tipped ball from a left wing shot, by a sprawling Sundaram who ended the day with a career-high 10 saves, all coming in high pressure situations.
 
The Yellowjackets nearly made it 2-0 in the 31st minute when Dunham cleared a long aerial up the field to a streaking Dickerson who crossed a pass into the circle for Jessica Brandon, but her shot was stopped for a defensive save by defender Bennett Tierney.
 
Just before halftime, the Herons netted their first goal of the game, when Maura Moran dribbled in on the right side of the circle, was left along and fired a shot that beat Sundaram on the short side, tying the game at 1-1 heading into the break.
 
William Smith's Wood, who ranks second in career scoring for the Herons, was stopped again in close by Sundaram who was laying on her side in the 42nd minute.
 
Four minutes later though, William Smith would break through for the go-ahead goal in a back-and-forth second half.  This time Wood thought it would be better to pass up a shot off a penalty corner, dishing over to the right wing where a wide open Alexandra Frary was waiting.  She ripped a hard shot and found the cage for a 2-1 lead.
 
Rochester answered just over a minute later, with Jennifer Lee camping out in front of the net and tipping in a cross pass from the right side from Denny.
 
63 seconds after UR scored the tying goal, William Smith was able to regain the advantage when Sierra Fitzgerald dribbled into the center of the circle untouched and slipped her attempt past Sundaram on the stick side.
 
The Yellowjackets refused to give up, applying more pressure on the offensive end, leading to a penalty corner in the 55th minute.  Denny then found Dunham along the circle on the PC and the senior fired a hard shot to the left corner of the cage which found its way through thanks to an excellent screen from Dickerson.
 
Rochester's Kate Tiffany made a big defensive save to keep the score tied in the 65th minute stopping a Fallon Adair shot with the follow-up attempt being swiped away by Sundaram.
 
Early in the overtime period, Dunham sent a long outlet pass up to Maya Haigis for a semi-breakaway, but her attempt was thwarted by the Heron defense who hustled back on the play.
 
Playing six on six in the extra session, the open field only yielded one shot prior to Dickerson's game-winner, with that coming off the stick of Fitzgerald from the right side at 73:20, but Sundaram was there to kick it away for a save.
 
The third straight overtime contest is the first such stretch for the Yellowjackets since the 2004 season.  In that year, UR won the opening game against Nazareth 2-1, dropped the middle game against Utica 3-2 before winning the third straight overtime affair against Elmira.
 
Rochester returns to action next Saturday at home in another Liberty League contest, hosting Vassar College at 4:30 pm at Fauver Stadium.