Photo Courtesy of Jack Imburgia
By Hannah Grove, Staff Writer
It was a special day on Sassafras Field where the seniors got to celebrate themselves and the last time playing on their home field, finishing with a 2-2 draw against the Elizabethtown Blue Jays on March 21.
Before the game started,the 12 seniors on the team were honored, including Jack Levy, Kyle Trainor, Dakota Dobrovich-Fago, Ben King, Scott Mission, Pat Bresney, Tristan Barquin, Jacob Butzler, Aaron Skelly, Brandon Milbourne, Alex Bellot and Christopher Naiman. All the seniors started the game and played the majority of the game with a few substitutions.
Coach Jim Findlay said, “I asked the guys to play better than they did in our first game last weekend and I feel we definitely did that.”
Bellot said, “Going into the game I knew it was the last ride for me and the rest of the seniors. All I was thinking about was leaving everything on the field and playing my best to help us get the win.”
In the first half of the game Elizabethtown scored their first goal of the game leading Susquehanna 0-1. A substitution was made for starter Naiman with 10minutes left in the first half.
Sophomore Michael Morelli came in and was fouled just outside of the 18-yard box and was given a free kick which led to a Susquehanna goal. This leveled the score at 1-1 with just a few minutes left until halftime.
Trainor said, “Going into halftime we were very happy with our play. We came out dominating right from the start. When we all spoke at halftime it was the most unified we have been in a while and today everything was clicking. It was a pleasure to put the orange and maroon on one last time and give our all with the team.”
Throughout the game, cards were given to both teams, as both teams played aggressively.
In the second half of the game, it was back and forth between both teams with many shots on goal as well as many corner kicks. King had a few amazing saves keeping Elizabethtown from scoring.
Towards the end of the second half Naiman was fouled inside of Elizabethtown’s goal box giving Naiman a penalty kick. With the pressure on, Naiman scored and put Susquehanna up 2-1.
Shortly after the penalty kick, Elizabethtown was able to work the ball down to Susquehanna’s end of the field. This resulted in a goal for Elizabethtown putting the score at 2-2.
With just two minutes left, Susquehanna had a total of two shots on goal and another shot just going over the crossbar. The pressure was on to score a goal before going into overtime.
In overtime, both teams had plenty of chances but could not capitalize. Multiple players on both teams cramped up from the long game and warmer weather. The game ended up going into double overtime. The final score ending 2-2.
Findlay said: “I am extremely happy for our seniors in that they were able to get a somewhat of proper send off that they deserve. When we went up 2-1 late I thought we would cap the day off with a win. I would like to thank them for their contributions to the SU men’s soccer program during their time here and with them best of luck in their future endeavors.”