GENEVA, N.Y. – Senior forward Mary Lauren Franz recorded her first career hat trick lifting the Ursinus College field hockey team to their second ranked victory of the season with a 3-0 decision over No. 24 William Smith College on Saturday afternoon.
 

It marks as Franz eighth career game with a multi-goal performance and her second of the season after scoring twice in the Bears' win over No. 10 Rowan last Saturday. With the victory, Ursinus improves to 2-0 on the season, while the Herons fell to 1-2 overall.
 

Franz got the scoring started early as she redirected a crossing pass from sophomore Kirsten Johnson and sent a shot past the Herons defense for her first goal of the game at the 2:59-mark of the opening period. Just two minutes later, Ursinus added another scoring opportunity, but sophomore Marie Brainard's shot was blocked by the William Smith defense. Much of the battle over the next eight minutes was within the midfield, before Ursinus was awarded a penalty corner at the 12:02-mark of the period. Junior midfielder Lauren Sieczkowski tallied a shot during the corner, but the opportunity missed wide as the Bears held a 1-0 lead heading into the second stanza.

 
After the Herons had the opening shot of the second period, Ursinus amped up the offensive pressure before breaking through during the 22nd minute with Franz' second goal of the contest. The Bears fired a trio of shots on goal, before Franz corralled her own rebound in front of the cage and found the back of the net to give Ursinus a 2-0 lead. During the 24th minute, William Smith nearly added a score, but a defensive save from senior Maeve Montgomery kept the Bears ahead by two. Shortly after, William Smith's Caroline Kogut tallied a shot from the top of the arc, but junior netminder Adraina Palladinetti turned away the scoring attempt and kept the Bears ahead 2-0 heading into halftime.

 
The third period remained a battle of the midfielders as neither offense could create scoring opportunities, until Franz connected on a goal with 11 seconds remaining in the stanza to stretch the Bears lead to three. She collected a pass from sophomore Ava Mikulski, spun and sent a shot past the Herons defense for her fifth goal of the season and 31st of her career. Ursinus out shot William Smith 2-1 in the final period as the Bears defense stood tall and held onto the lead for a 3-0 victory.
 

Ursinus held an 11-4 advantage in shots, a 5-2 edge in shots on goal, and each team recorded a pair of penalty corner opportunities. Palladinetti earned the victory in goal behind one save in 45 minutes of action. William Smith's Jeremiah Baker was dealt the loss recording three goals allowed and two saves over 60 minutes of play.

 
The Bears will return to action on Wednesday, September 11^th as they travel to Center Valley for a road matchup against DeSales University before hosting No. 13 University of Lynchburg on Saturday from Snell Alumnae Field.