Photo Courtesy of Jack Imburgia
By Dakota Dobrovich-Fago, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna women’s soccer team took on the Elizabethtown Blue Jays on March 20at home as they honored their senior players for their service, picking up a 2-0 win.
Midfielder Tessa Rendina, defender Brianna Caporuscio, midfielder Kathryn Perlowitz, goalkeeper Madi Welliver and midfielder Molly Schelle were all seniors recognized for their contributions during their time at Susquehanna.
“I thought our senior day went well, even though it wasn’t your typical senior day due to COVID-19. I was definitely really emotional knowing that it was my last home game, especially after not having played in the fall,” Caporuscio said.
But while their service and dedication has been recognized, their job for the day was far from done as an eager Elizabethtown awaited.
As things got kicked off, the River Hawks asserted their dominance early on in the half. Susquehanna was finding it easy to control the flow of the game and were able to string together passes to work their way into Elizabethtown’s half.
While they found success in getting the ball into dangerous areas, they were unable to execute the finishing touches to put the ball in the back of the net. Susquehanna threatened from the wings and put in dangerous crosses. They were swung into the box but ultimately could never get on the right side of them to break the deadlock.
Defensively they found themselves to be sound as Elizabethtown relied on longer balls which were easily sniffed out by the backline. With Susquehanna’s relentless pressure and effort along with an organized defense, they made Elizabethtown’s first half a long one. That said, they would head into half scoreless.
As they took the field in the second half, the River Hawks maintained offensive dominance through multiple runs and crosses on the wing from sophomore forward Emily Wertz. With the constant pressure from a relentless River Hawks’ team, they found their breakthrough goal from junior forward Anna Werner. Her strike hit the crossbar and then the back of the net.
“I think the team played really well against Elizabethtown. We played to our strengths and were able to take it to them,” junior defender Erin Wilson said, “After the first goal was scored by Anna Werner, we had even more momentum and drive to win. We had some bumps in the game, but nothing too big that we couldn’t recover from and play better. Overall, we played very well against a great opponent.”
But as the half progressed, Susquehanna saw themselves get put on the backfoot as the game opened up a bit as Elizabethtown threatened to find an equalizer. But the backline was able to fend off Elizabethtown’s attack.
They would reward their hard-work again as the River Hawks put the game away through junior defender Erin Wilson as she headed home a corner from Wertz to make the score 2-0.
“I was so excited that I scored. This game I wanted a goal and took more chances than I normally do. Having everyone on the team run at me and be just as excited was even better. I definitely want to score more goals even though I am a defensive player,” Wilson said.
Caporuscio said,“the team fared really well against Elizabethtown. I think we passed the ball around really well and had them chasing for the majority of the game. On top of that, both of our goals were quality goals. Corners are something Coach has been focusing on in practice, so the header from Erin was really exciting.”
Susquehanna walked away from the game with the 2-0 win which gave senior Madi Welliver and sophomore Carlie Marquette the clean sheet for the day and capped off a successful senior day with a win to remember.
