By Dylan Smith, Staff writer
Susquehanna’s men’s lacrosse team dropped a nonconference game against 13th-ranked Generals of Washington & Lee College 10-1 at home on Tuesday, April 16 at Sassafras Field.
The River Hawks (10-5) could not get a rhythm going throughout the game. The Generals (11-3) scored just 29 seconds into the game and tacked on two more goals in the first to take a 3-0 lead into the second quarter.
W&L freshman attacker A.J. Witherell scored his third goal of the game on a one-handed hook shot to the upper corner to give the Generals a 4-0 lead.
Witherell would score another goal later in the game and add an assist to finish the game.
Sophomore Hudson Hamill and sophomore Thomas Zusi both scored in the second quarter to push the General lead to six at halftime.
Washington & Lee scored three more goals to push the lead to 9-0 before Susquehanna would put a point on the board.
At 45:44, River Hawks’ freshman attacker Colton Dick scored his 12th goal of the season sending a hard shot past Generals freshman goalie Jack Taylor. Senior attacker Alec Tzaneteas had the assist on the play.
Despite giving up nine goals, River Hawks’ junior goalie Dylan Abplanalp posted 11 saves and saw 34 shots before getting pulled in the fourth quarter.
“As a team we’re just looking to stick with what has been working,” Abplanalp said.
“Playing Washington and Lee was a huge test for us and I think it prepared us better for this weekend’s game and games in the future,” Abplanalp said.
“They were able to expose some things we need to work on so we can tighten them up going into Saturday’s game at Scranton.”
Freshman goalie Tyler Gross made a pair of saves in the final 15 minutes of play for the River Hawks.
Senior midfielder Pierce Mead picked up five ground balls and won seven of the 13 faceoffs for Susquehanna.
Susquehanna will look to bounce back as they hit the road for a rivalry matchup against the Royals of Scranton University on Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m.
“I think we’re going to go into these next couple games with confidence and a chip on our shoulder, as we were predicted to finish sixth in this year’s preseason polls,” Abplanalp said.
“We know we can prove everyone wrong by winning these next two games and locking up the number one seed heading into postseason play. Our goal is to win a Landmark Conference Championship and anything short of that would be a disappointment,” Abplanalp said.
The River Hawks wrap up conference play on Saturday, April 28 with their Senior Day against Drew.