By Mel Barracato, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men’s lacrosse team started off their season with an exciting 9–8 comeback victory over cross-town rival Lycoming College thanks to sophomore midfielder Tyler Humphrey’s first career goal coming with three minutes left to play on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Selinsgrove.
The River Hawks and the Warriors were tied at one goal apiece after the first period, with Susquehanna’s goal scored by junior midfielder Kyle Watts just under the seven-minute mark. An intense second period put the River Hawks up by two goals as they outscored Lycoming 4–2 during the quarter.
The four goals came from four different River Hawks: Senior midfielder Jake Smolokoff scored off an assist from sophomore attacker Colton Dick just six seconds into the second period.
The Warriors countered with a goal of their own, but junior attacker Preston Ouellette found the back of the net to keep Susquehanna in front.
After another Lycoming goal, Dick and Watts each added another goal to end the first half with the River Hawks leading by two goals.
The Warriors came out with a new fire under their belt in the third period, as they outscored Susquehanna 3–1.
The River Hawks had to play catch up and fight their way back to take control of the game. With about 40 seconds left to play in the period, senior midfielder Lou Pillari tied the game at 6–6.
Lycoming scored back-to-back goals in the beginning of the final period to give the Warriors a two-goal edge. After their eighth goal at the 12-minute mark, Lycoming looked to close out the game, but River Hawks took over and scored three straight goals to end the game.
Watts scored his third goal of the game with 10 minutes remaining to complete the hat trick and five minutes later, Dick added his second to tie the game at eight.
Humphrey stepped up with less than four minutes to go, when he found the back of the net for the first time in his collegiate career to bring the River Hawks to victory. Watts’ hat-trick was also the first in his collegiate career.
Susquehanna won the ground ball battle 37–36 and outshot the warriors 45–24. The Warriors won 16 of 20 face-offs, but senior midfielder James Abramo and senior defenseman Dan Murphy led the strong defensive effort with five forced turnovers and six ground balls respectively.
“Abramo had an outstanding game on the defensive end of the field, which really set the tone,” head coach Stewart Moan said.
Senior goalie Dylan Abplanalp made seven saves to keep the River Hawks in the game.
“Dylan came up with some key saves at crucial times of the game in the goal,” Moan said.
It was an all-around team effort for the River Hawks to be able to come out on top against rival Lycoming.
“I’m very proud of my team’s composure and belief that they were capable of coming back from two goals down and winning this hard-fought contest. It was a good character win for our team,” Moan said.
The River Hawks will return to action when they travel to King’s College on Feb. 23 for another non-conference matchup.
In their last meeting with King’s College, the River Hawks made quick work of the visiting Monarchs, beating them by a score of 17–6.
Dick was impressive in this game, supplying constant offense to his teammates and racking up eight assists.
Then-junior Smolokoff accounted for four of the team’s goals and then-senior Andrew Porzio accounted for another four goals.
This time around, the River Hawks will be without Porzio and are looking for someone to step up and fill a scoring role.
King’s is currently 0-2, losing their last game to Scranton by a score of 16–6.