By Pat Delp Staff writer
Senior Ashley Rose Lynn scored four goals to help guide the Susquehanna women’s lacrosse team to their first conference win of the season over Moravian 15-10 on April 1 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The Greyhounds got out to an early lead, scoring just 43 seconds into the game.
However, the River Hawks responded quickly as sophomore attacker Brooke Klair netted two goals. After individual free position shots by junior attacker Caroline Rebiecki and Lynn, Susquehanna found itself with a 4-2 lead.
Lynn, who has 22 goals on the season, spoke about the team’s strategy going into the game: “We wanted to take a lot of offensive risks in the first five minutes to really get the game started. As a team we played to each other’s strengths, backed up the cage, and assessed what shots would be successful.”
Although Moravian was able to cut the lead down to one goal, Lynn and sophomore attacker Kathrina DeMaio combined to score the next three goals to boost the Susquehanna lead to 7-3.
A late first half Greyhound run made the score 8-6 at the end of the first half. The turning point in the game came during a four-goal-run by Susquehanna with goals by Klair, senior midfielder Shannon Kinney, sophomore attacker Helena Woytovich and Rebiecki to boost the River Hawks’ lead to six goals. The victory was sealed when Kinney netted her second goal of the game with less than two minutes left.
Lynn led the team with five points, four goals and one assist, while Klair contributed four points and Rebiecki added three.
The Susquehanna net was tended by freshmen Libby Dex in the first half and Emily Digaetano in the second half. The duo combined for nine saves. Freshman defender Caroline Ray led the way defensively with four caused turnovers along with six ground balls.
The series dates back to 2003, since which Susquehanna has dominated, recently winning its 10th straight victory over the Greyhounds. The win gives the River Hawks a 1-1 in-conference record coming down the stretch of the season.
With a conference win under its belt, the team was confident in its ability headed into its next matchup with Lycoming. Before the game, Lynn said, “Coming off a conference win gives us a spark as a team and we are hype to play again [against Lycoming].”
The team could not translate that confidence into a win against the Warriors, falling 16-10 on April 5.
Lycoming boasted a quick and efficient offense that rattled off three goals in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Warriors executed sharp passes and rarely turned the ball over. Lynn finally put the River Hawks on the board with 20:24 remaining in the first half.
Two minutes later, Rabiecki found Woytovich on a cross, which Woytovich flicked past Lycoming’s goalkeeper to draw within one goal.
Lycoming sophomore midfielder Kelly McGinniss added two more goals back-to-back after a goal from both Susquehanna and Lycoming.
McGinniss proved to be too much of a force to stop for the River Hawks, finishing the game with a dominating statline of six goals and one assist.
In addition to her play on offense, McGinniss also won 14 of 28 draw controls in the game for the Warriors.
The River Hawks finished out the half with momentum, when senior attacker Liv Cohn laced a beautiful shot off a dime from Rabiecki.
McGinniss quickly put an end to that momentum in the second half, scoring in just under three minutes.
Cohn answered with a goal of her own, and the River Hawks defense locked down the Warriors offense for the first 10 minutes of the second half before they exploded again.
With 20:36 remaining, Warrior freshman attacker Kayla DiJoseph scored on a free position shot that sparked a 5-0 scoring run for Lycoming, including two goals from DiJoseph as well as McGinniss’s final goal of the game.
Susquehanna answered back with a 3-1 run of its own, but goals were harder to come by for the River Hawks.
In the last five minutes, Rabiecki scored twice while Lynn scored with 13 seconds remaining, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit.
The loss gives Susquehanna a 6-5 record for the year and moves them into a tie with Scranton for third place in the Landmark Conference.
Next up for the River Hawks will be a road trip to take on the No. 11 nationally-ranked Catholic Cardinals on Saturday, April 8.
