Field hockey goes to title game, falls to Kean

By Mel Barracato, Staff Writer The Susquehanna Women’s Field Hockey team faced off against both Wilkes and Kean in the Connie Harnum Classic tournament this past weekend in Selinsgrove and...

By Mel Barracato, Staff Writer

The Susquehanna Women’s Field Hockey team faced off against both Wilkes and Kean in the Connie Harnum Classic tournament this past weekend in Selinsgrove and came out of the weekend 1-1.

The River Hawks triumphed over Wilkes in a 4-3 overtime win thanks to an overtime goal from sophomore Hunter Pitman to advance to the championship game, where they fell hard to Kean in a 5-0 deficit.

Freshman Vivian Simone opened the scoring of the Wilkes game with a goal in the first 14 minutes, followed shortly after with another River Hawk goal from sophomore Heather Casey. Wilkes followed suit and scored two goals of their own before the half was over to make the score even at 2-2.

Pitman gave Susquehanna the edge early in the second half with a pass from Casey. Wilkes tied the game up again late in the second half to send the game into overtime, where Casey and Pitman teamed up again and allowed Pitman’s second goal to win the game for the River Hawks.

The River Hawks were not able to keep the momentum going in their game on Sunday as they suffered a 5-0 loss to Kean.

This was the River Hawks’ third appearance in the last four years in the championship match. Although, the Cougars have now won their fifth Connie Harnum Classic tournament.

Kean took the lead early on and finished the first half with the score at 3-0 with goals from three different players.

Sophomore Emily DiGaetano started in goal for the River Hawks and made seven saves, while Pitman tallied three of Susquehanna’s four shots on goal. The Cougars found the back of the net two more times to finish the game with five goals.

Kean controlled most of the possession during the game, and vastly outshot the River Hawks as a result. The Cougars put 15 shots on goal compared to the River Hawks’ two shots.

The Cougars also had nine penalty corners, while the River Hawks only had seven. Pitman, senior midfielder Cayla Spatz, and senior defenseman Julia Hasircoglu were named to the All-Tournament team.

“I think we were just off as a team,” said head coach Allison Fordyce. “We were just really off balance and weren’t really connecting. It was just one of those days where the whole team had a bad day.”

The River Hawks next game will be at King’s College in Wilkes-barre this Saturday, Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. It will also be their first road game this season.

“It’s always a good game between the two teams,” Fordyce said. “It will be a very up tempo and competitive game. We fully go in expecting to put our best effort out there.”

“Overall, we focus on being really positive. We take our season one day and one game at a time and our eyes are always looking ahead,” Fordyce said.

The last time the River Hawks took on King’s College was last year, when Susquehanna beat them at home 3-2.

Pitman and Hasircoglu are the two returning scorers for the River Hawks as the third goal scorer in last year’s game, Emily Novakovich, has graduated from Susquehanna University last year.

King’s College currently sits at 0-2. Kelsey Gabriele is the points leader for the Monarchs with two goals and one assist in two games, while Brianna DiMaggio is the shots leader for the River Hawks with four.

In goal for the Monarchs, Kayla Nailor looks to pick up her first win of the season after taking the first two losses.

Categories
Sports
No Comment