By Olivia Parke, Contributing Writer
The Susquehanna women’s field hockey team suffered an unfortunate 2-1 loss in overtime against non-conference opponent Swarthmore on Sept. 5 in Selinsgrove and followed up with a victory against Landmark Conference opponent King’s College 6-0 on Sept. 7 in Wilkes-Barre.
The River Hawks came out strong as they outshot Swarthmore 6-3 in the first half, but eventually leveled out as the Garnets came back and took the lead in shots 18-8 in the second half. Susquehanna also obtained eight corners, while Swarthmore had 11 during the game.
Senior forward Hunter Pitman scored off an assist from junior defender Gabby Martin in the second period. Emily DiGaetano, senior goalkeeper, saved the remainder of the shots and took the game into overtime.
During the overtime period, Swarthmore was able to capitalize, scored off of a penalty during the 58th minute of the game and took a 2-1 lead.
“Overall, it was a great game for us,” Martin said. “We were able to make offensive runs and played strong defensively all game.”
The River Hawks didn’t let the loss against Swarthmore affect them in their next game and were able to rebound against King’s College 6-0 for their first win of the season.
The River Hawks defeated the Monarchs away in Wilkes-Barre and multiple players scored their first goals of the season.
Pitman, junior midfielder Vivian Simone, junior forward Jenn Sabback and senior forward Hayley Adams all contributed goals during the game.
The first half began and only 2:10 came off the clock when Simone scored the first goal to kick things off for the River Hawks. The second goal by Sabback was four minutes later and added to Susquehanna’s confidence in winning the game.
The final score was 6-0 in favor of Susquehanna as they were able to keep King’s off of the scoreboard.
DiGaetano only had to make two saves throughout the entire game and Pitman finished with three goals while picking up her first hat trick of the season.
“It was such a rewarding feeling to finally see all of our hard work pay off and to know that we can only go up from here,” Pitman said. “From the defense to the offense, we all stayed connected throughout the game and everyone supported one another.”
Pitman was spot on as the stats showed that the River Hawks outshot the Monarch’s 22-6.
Susquehanna will be back in action against Ithaca College at 2 p.m. on Sept. 14 at Sassafrass field in Selinsgrove.
