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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Visiting William Smith went on a 10-3 scoring spree in the second half Wednesday to break open a close game as the 16th-ranked Herons defeated Nazareth in a non-conference women's lacrosse game, 17-6, at Golden Flyer Stadium.

The Herons improved to 8-2 overall by getting three goals and one assist apiece from junior Sarah Goodkind and sophomore Cassie Findlay and two goals and three assists from junior Molly Fitzgerald added two goals and three assists. Freshman Lucy Johnson also had three goals. Junior Nora Davis netted four goals for the Golden Flyers, who dropped to 7-5 overall.

The game was scoreless for the first nine minutes, before William Smith scored twice in a 21-second span and never trailed thereafter. Junior Brittany Callaghan got the Herons on the board with an unassisted score and Johnson followed with an unassisted score of her own. Senior Shanon Lattimore scored a free-position goal to get Nazareth on the board with 16:04 left.

The Herons went on to take a 7-1 lead when Johnson scored her second goal with 5:13 left in the half. Nazareth scored the last two goals of the first half -- Davis and sophomore Michelle Cook -- and the first goal of the second half -- Davis from Cook -- to close to within 7-4.

The Herons then erased any Nazareth comeback hopes by rattling off five straight goals in a 10-minute stretch that yielded a 12-4 lead with less than 18 minutes left. Findlay and Fitzgerald each scored twice in that stretch.

William Smith had advantages in shots (39-24) and ground balls (26-14). Herons' goalie Becky Josefiak made 13 saves, while Nazareth goalies Maria Fusco and Ann Sessler combined for 15 stops.

Nazareth returns to its Empire 8 Conference schedule this weekend with road games at Hartwick Saturday and at Stevens Sunday.