By Nick Forbes Asst. sports editor
On March 25, the women’s lacrosse team took on the Blue Jays of Elizabethtown, mounting an impressive comeback but ultimately falling short, losing 15-12.
The Blue Jays, who are off to a 5-1 start this season, boasted their offense early in the game. Elizabethtown scored seven goals in the first 18 minutes of the game, while stifling the Susquehanna offense.
Susquehanna finally found the back of the net with a little under 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Senior attacker Ashley Rose Lynn took a pass from freshman midfielder Mel Barracato and fired it past Elizabethtown’s goal keeper.
Lynn led the team in scoring with four goals.
Junior attacker Caroline Rabiecki added another goal right before the half to cut the River Hawks’ deficit to five.
The River Hawks kept the momentum rolling right out of the gate in the second half. It took just two minutes for sophomore attacker Brooke Klair to score off of a Rabiecki assist. One minute later, Lynn added her second goal of the day on a free position shot.
The next six goals scored in the game came off free position shots, three for Susquehanna and three for Elizabethtown. Senior midfielder Shannon Kinney found net with 15:24 remaining as the River Hawks drew within two points, but that’s as close as they got.
The Blue Jays protected their two point lead as the two teams went back and forth. Leading 12-10, Elizabethtown rallied for three goals to give them the separation they needed.
Rabiecki and Lynn tacked on two more goals for Susquehanna in the waning minutes, but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the deficit created in the first half.
The match marked the first Landmark Conference matchup for the River Hawks, who are now 0-1 in conference play.
The team rebounded quickly on March 29 when they traveled to King’s to take on the Monarchs.
Once again, the River Hawks got off to a slow start. With 17:37 left in the first half, Susquehanna found themselves trailing 4-2 and needing a jump start on offense.
Klair provided the spark the team was looking for, scoring on an assist from Rabiecki to start a five goal scoring run from the River Hawks.
Lynn accounted for two goals during the spurt, and senior attacker Liv Cohn netted a goal as well.
Klair finished the scoring run she initiated, taking another assist from Rabiecki and putting it home with 34 seconds left in the half.
Susquehanna carried a 7-4 lead over King’s into half and never looked back.
Scoring was hard to come by in the second half for both teams. The first goal of the second half came when Kinney scored on a free positionshot midway through the half.
King’s answered back with a goal of their own, but Lynn fired right back to give Susquehanna a 9-5 lead tha ended up being the final score.
Lynn recorded three goals in the win, while Rabiecki led the team in assists with two. Rabiecki also had an early goal in the game.
Freshman goalie Libby Dex recorded seven saves in the win en route to her fourth win of the year.
With a record of 5-4, the River Hawks will look to avoid falling to .500 on the season when they take on Moravian on Saturday, April 1.
Moravian is 5-2 over seven games played thus far this season but has yet to play in a Landmark Conference game.
Moravian’s offense could pose problems for Susquehanna’s defense. The Greyhounds have not scored less than 17 points in their past four games.
Their last game boasted a 20-point scoring output, thanks in large part to seven-point outings from sophomore midfielder Jillian Picciuto and freshman midfielder Liz Bill.
The River Hawks will have to rely heavily on Dex as well as the rest of the defense, led by junior defender Una Heinzerling if they want to pick up their first conference win against the Greyhounds.
Following the game against Moravian, Susquehanna will return home on Wednesday, April 5 to take on Lycoming.