GENEVA, NY – A three-goal spurt over a two minute span to start the third quarter helped lift the University of Rochester field hockey team to a 3-1 victory over William Smith College in the Liberty League conference opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Yellowjackets (5-4, 1-0 Liberty League), got tallies from Colleen Maillie, Maya Haigis and Catherine Hauser on their first three shots of the third period, rallying from a 1-0 deficit to emerge with the win.
 
William Smith (2-6, 0-1 Liberty League) had the first excellent chance of the game at 1:55 of the first period, when Mackenzie Wodka slipped behind the Yellowjacket defense and took a point blank shot from five yards out, but Rochester goalie Kate Kujawa was there for the save, kicking the ball away with her right foot.
 
Rochester countered early with the first penalty corner of the game two minutes later, but Maillie's blast from the edge of the circle was saved by Alexandra DeVito in the William Smith cage.
 

The host Herons then tallied the first goal of the game less than two minutes into the second quarter.  After earning a penalty corner, the ball was inserted to the top of the circle where a pass found the stick of Kate Barilla who swept her shot towards the goal.  Lauren Jackson was camped in front and was able to deflect the ball into the top left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
 
It was all UR the rest of the half though, as William Smith did not get a shot off against the Yellowjacket defense.
 
At 22:46, Haigis used a great individual effort to weave through the Heron defense and blast a shot from 12 yards out, but DeVito was there for the kick save.
 
Rochester's scoring flurry in the second half started at the 31:06 mark.  After a penalty corner insert by Juney Lee was settled by Haigis, the senior swept the ball to her fellow co-captain at the right wing who hit a bouncing shot which was able to sneak inside the left post, tying the score at 1-1.
 
After the restart, Rochester gained possession and earned another penalty corner.  This time, Haigis settled the Lee insert and ripped a hard shot from the left wing, finding the cage for a 2-1 Yellowjacket lead.
 
Just 35 seconds later, Maillie grabbed possession of the ball along the right side of the circle and sent a shot towards the William Smith net.  Hauser then tipped the ball into the left side of the cage for her team leading seventh goal of the season, doing so while falling to the turf.
 
The rest of the period was played mostly in the midfield, as only three shots combined from both teams were taken.  After three, Rochester led 3-1.
 
In the fourth, UR again started strong, earning back to back to back penalty corners two minutes in.  On the second attempt, Haigis had a goal denied when William Smith's Jackson was there for a defensive save.
 
Rochester ended up holding an 18-6 shot advantage and 11-1 edge in penalty corners.  Kujawa made three saves for UR in goal, while DeVito had four saves in 33 minutes for the Herons.  Relief goalie Stephanie Stone played 27 minutes and made one save.
 
UR's next game is Tuesday at St. John Fisher College, with the contest slated for a 6 pm start.