ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 22 Ithaca College women's soccer team suffered its first loss on Wednesday to No. 7 William Smith, 4-0.
 
With the loss, the Bombers are now 8-1-2 on the season with a 2-1 mark in the Liberty League while William Smith improves to 8-2-0 overall with a perfect 4-0 record in-conference.
 
The play proved to be fairly even from the jump, with both teams gaining scoring opportunities in the opening minutes.
 
Just 6:25 in, sophomore Alex Epifani took a through ball from Sarah Pirnie to go one-on-one with goalkeeper Veronica Romines, but she made the save to keep IC off the board.
 
The Bombers' defense as well as sophomore goalkeeper Emma Fruhling held strong, coming up with several crucial stops.
 
In the ninth minute of play William Smith's Megan Barwick went on a breakaway, drawing Fruhling out, but senior Reid Garner made a play on the line to keep the ball out of the net.
 
Fruhling then made a big diving save in the 10^th minute on an Elizabeth Moore header to push the ball the other way.
 
The Bombers had another offensive push in the 33^rd minute, firing off two shots. Gabriella Mihale's attempt was blocked by a Herons' defender before Epifani's rebound shot sailed to the left of the goal.
 
The Herons finally broke through to score at the 35:20 mark. Merilyn Hinrichs chipped a short through ball to Sarah Gray, who sent in a high shot over the head of Fruhling to put William Smith up 1-0.
 
William Smith then went on to open up the second half with a goal, scoring just 38 seconds in.
 
Barwick sent a pass to Sheila McQuillen who controlled the ball into the box and fired off a shot past a diving Fruhling.
 
Following the goal Garner tested Romines in the 55^th minute, but the goalkeeper made the save.
 
The Herons put up their third goal of the game at the 66:07 mark. Barwick scored her sixth goal of the season after taking her own rebound and firing off a shot into the back of the net.
 
The Bombers clocked one more chance through the remainder of the game, but Pirnie's shot was stopped by Romines.
 
William Smith's fourth and final goal was scored with just over seven minutes left to play. Barwick added another goal to complete her day, scoring on a penalty kick following a Bombers' foul in the box.
 
Statistically, the Herons outshot Ithaca 12-5 and also recorded three more corner kicks.
 
Fruhling made two saves in her first start of the year, while Romines finished with three.
 
The Bombers are back in action on Saturday at 12 p.m. when they host Bard on Carp Wood Field. The game also marks senior day for IC's six seniors: Megan Amaral, Stacey DiGiorgio, Sam Robinson, Sarah Pirnie, Reid Garner and Shoshana Bedrosian.