By Mike Henken Staff writer
The Susquehanna women’s field hockey team beat Catholic 4-3 on Nov. 2 but lost to Elizabethtown at the Landmark Conference championship game on Nov. 5.
In the 75th minute of the Nov. 2 game, freshman forward Hunter Pitman scored the game-winning goal off an assist from sophomore forward Taylor Franco. The goal marked Pitman’s third of the game, as she scored at 16:08 to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead in the first half and at 44:33 off an assist from freshman midfielder Heather Casey to extend the team’s lead to 2-1 in the second half.
After Susquehanna took a 2-1 lead, Catholic tied the game up before sophomore forward Molly Crowley tallied her third goal of the game to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead with just over 13 minutes to go in regulation.
With 3:44 remaining, junior midfielder Cayla Spatz scored the game-tying goal off an assist from senior midfielder Lauren Cram. Pitman then sealed the deal in overtime.
With the win, Susquehanna moved on to the Landmark Conference championship game against Elizabethtown on Nov. 5, but the River Hawks fell 1-0 in yet another game that went to overtime.
With each team remaining scoreless throughout regulation as well as the first overtime period, the game headed to double overtime where senior midfielder Nicole Leaf netted the game-winning goal off a penalty corner to give the Blue Jays the victory.
Susquehanna’s freshman goalie Emily DiGaetano played a strong game, totaling 16 saves. Senior forward Emily Novakovich led the team in shots with four, while Pitman added three, and freshman forward Mini Kifolo tallied two.
Despite a difficult end to the season, Head Coach Kaitlyn Wahila was proud of the 2016 campaign her team produced.
“We were able to execute on a consistent basis on game day to keep a solid win streak rolling at one point,” Wahila said.
As far as next season goes, the goal is clear: to not only once again make it to the Landmark Conference championship, but this time to win it.
“Every season brings upon new goals and challenges and new team members that were not a part of the previous season,” Wahila said. “At the end of the day, I am extremely proud of our team’s ability to stay mentally tough and get us to a 15-4 record.”
