By Alex Kurtz, Sports editor
The Susquehanna men’s lacrosse team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated Landmark Conference-foe Catholic 15-6 on Friday, April 7 in Washington, D.C. The River Hawks also defeated non-conference opponent Marywood 10-4 on Tuesday, April 10 in Selinsgrove.
Alongside the win over Catholic were two different milestones for Susquehanna. Senior attack Andrew Porzio scored four goals on the day to cross the 100-point mark for his career and became the 12th player in school history to reach the milestone. Head coach Stewart Moan also earned his 100th win for the River Hawks.
In the first quarter, Susquehanna jumped out to 2-1 lead. Junior attack Jack Donnelly scored the first goal of the game for the River Hawks unassisted at the 10:50 mark and then added another unassisted goal at the 3:56 mark. Liam Clancy had one goal in the quarter for Catholic.
Early in the second quarter Catholic got on the board to tie the game 2-2, but Susquehanna would proceed to put their foot on the gas pedal.
Porzio would score two goals less than a minute apart off of assists from junior midfielder Jack Gerrity and freshman attack Colton Dick. Donnelly would score his third unassisted goal of the game to complete his hat trick giving the River Hawks a 6-2 lead.
After two more goals from Porzio and another from Donnelly, Catholic would finally respond with a goal from Liam Clancy, but Susquehanna would roll into halftime with an 8-3 lead.
In the second half, the River Hawks continued to pour on the scoring with goals from Garrity, Dick and junior midfielder Jake Smolokoff. Catholic would add another goal once again at the end of the quarter, but Susquehanna was still well in control with an 11-4 lead going into the final quarter of regulation.
Smolokoff would add another goal at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Susquehanna would score three more times in the half to bring their goal total to 15. Catholic would score two more times in the final three minutes but it would ultimately be in vain as the River Hawks would close out the game for the win.
With the victory, Susquehanna remained undefeated in conference play (3-0) while Catholic fell to 7-5 and 1-2 in the Landmark Conference.
For the Marywood game, Porzio led the way for the River Hawks with four goals, but defense was the main reason for the Susquehanna victory.
The River Hawks had 10 different players on the day record a caused turnover, and junior midfielder James Abramo, senior defender James Tsilionis and junior midfielder Louis Pillari all recorded two.
Marywood was also held scoreless on man-up situations, going 0-4, and the Pacers were only able to clear 12-23 opportunities during the game.
Junior goalie Dylan Abplanalp made five saves.
With the win, the River Hawks improved to 9-4 on the season. The team returns to action and Landmark Conference play on Saturday, April 14 against Goucher. Game time is at 1 p.m.
Goucher currently sit at 7-5 on the season and 1-1 in conference play. They are coming off a 19-6 win over Immaculata.
