By Alex Kurtz Sports editor
The Susquehanna men’s lacrosse team pulled out a close win in an 8-7 defensive battle on the road against Bridgewater on March 18.
Junior midfielder Alec Tzaneteas led the offensive attack for the River Hawks with four goals on the afternoon. Freshman attacker Preston Ouellette added two assists and one goal of his own.
Sophomore midfielder Joseph Acquaviva was a force on face offs, as he was able to win eight of the 12 he faced in the game.
On the defensive side, sophomore goalie Dylan Abplanalp made eight saves on 15 shots on goal; sophomore defender Dan Murphy collected four ground balls and junior defenseman Alex Weightman added two ground balls of his own.
The River Hawks were also able to kill off penalty minutes efficiently, as Bridgewater went 0-5 on man-up advantages.
Tzaneteas and Weightman also went on to sweep the weekly awards for Landmark Conference lacrosse honors. Tzaneteas took home offensive player of the week honors while Weightman earned defensive player of the week.
The two teams traded goals throughout the first three quarters of play.
Bridgewater scored first with 11:27 left to play in the first quarter on an unassisted goal by senior attacker Chris Voorhees, but Susquehanna evened the score on an unassisted goal of its own from sophomore midfielder Jake Smolokoff with just 35 seconds left in the quarter to make the score 1-1.
After a defensive battle in the second quarter, the River Hawks got the better of the Eagles going into the half as sophomore midfielder Erik Lanyi scored with an assist from Smolokoff to make the score 2-1 Susquehanna.
After the half, Bridgewater was quick to respond, tying the game at two with an unassisted goal from junior midfielder Daniel Brown.
Tzaneteas scored his first goal of the game just six minutes later and, after another Voorhees goal, scored his second of the quarter to give the River Hawks a 4-3 lead going into the final quarter of play.
Tzaneteas continued his offensive surge just 2:07 into the fourth quarter with a goal off an Ouellette assist to make the score 5-3. The goal also gave Tzaneteas a hat trick.
Bridgewater matched Tzaneteas’ hat trick with one of its own however, as Voorhees added his third goal just four minutes later to bring the Eagles within one.
Susquehanna did not allow them to close the gap any further, as Ouellette added a goal off an assist from senior attacker Chet McLaughlin and senior midfielder James Harabedian scored an unassisted goal to push the lead to 7-4 River Hawks with just 6:43 to play.
Voorhees was not done though. He scored again for his fourth goal of the game off an assist from sophomore attacker Sean MacLeish just twenty seconds after Harabedian’s goal to narrow the score to 7-5.
Almost four minutes later however, Tzaneteas, not to be outdone, also scored his fourth goal of the game off another Ouellette assist. The goal proved to be the game-winner, pushing the score to 8-5.
Bridgewater rallied late for two more goals, one from junior attacker Blake Mann and the other from freshman midfielder Justin Calabrese, but it would not be enough, as Susquehanna held on for the 8-7 win.
On March 22, the team suffered its second loss of the season, falling 9-5 to Eastern.
Up next for the River Hawks will be a trip to Elizabethtown on Saturday, March 24 for their first conference matchup of the season.
Susquehanna finished 5-1 in the conference last season, before falling to Catholic at home in a Landmark Conference semi-final matchup.
