Photo Courtesy of Robert Isacson
By Dakota Dobrovich-Fago, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna men’s lacrosse team came out 0-2 this past week with losses to #4 ranked Salisbury University (26-4) at home and Montclair State (19-8) at Montclair.
With its first game cancelled against Neumann University due to COVID-19, the team was up for a big challenge as they faced #4 ranked in division 3 lacrosse Salisbury University right out of the gates on March 24.
“We knew going into the game that Salisbury was a talented, athletic team that was going to challenge us in all aspects of the game,” senior captain Colton Dick said, “Since it was our first game of the season, we really just wanted to open up our season with a lot of energy and take a shot at one of the best in college lacrosse. We knew they had an explosive offense, so we needed to possess the ball on our side of the field.”
As the first quarter started, the River Hawks had a hard time connecting and working together as a team. They struggled to get a rhythm and gain any momentum on the Salisbury defense. Salisbury played a relentlessly hard organized defense that resulted with them in front of the net.
Salisbury’s defense caused many problems for the River Hawks who went on to finish the quarter in a 4-0 hole that they needed to climb out of.
At the start of the second quarter, the River Hawks showed a bit of life. The first couple of minutes they came out more organized defensively and more composed offensively. But Salisbury’s offense would prove too much for the River Hawk defense to handle as they gained back the momentum towards the last couple minutes of the quarter which by the end saw Susquehanna down 11-0 to end the half.
With 11 unanswered goals in the first half, Susquehanna needed a new fire if they wanted to get back into the game.
As the teams took the field for the third quarter in the second half, the River Hawks struggled again to find a way to break down the Salisbury defense. For a majority of the quarter, the River Hawks were under extreme pressure defensively and created few chances.
The River Hawks finally found the back of the net through a goal from sophomore midfielder Jake Turner with an assist from freshman attacker Kobi Buffa with 1:26 left in the third. The quarter finished up with the River Hawks down 23-1.
The fourth quarter saw the River Hawks find the net three more times with back-to-back goals from freshmen Cameron Mckee and Jason Carey. They later watched junior attacker Logan Frank tack on the River Hawks’ fourth and final goal for the day to finish the game with a score of 26-4 in favor of Salisbury.
While this was a tough game for the team to start off its spring season, a lot of the season remains to be played.
“We learned that, as a unit, we can compete and challenge talented teams and that our energy coming out could lift us into getting great opportunities. Salisbury took advantage of both our mental and physical mistakes. We know we need to play a cleaner and smarter game going forward if we want to accomplish our goals,” Dick said.
With one difficult game under their belt, the team travelled to Montclair State to face the Red Hawks on March 27.
At the start of the first quarter, Montclair State ran a tireless offense giving the River Hawks a tough time early on. Susquehanna could not produce any offensive threat as they were under constant pressure from the Red Hawks.
The River Hawks then called for a timeout to regroup and calm down. The talk proved vital as it sparked life into their attack as they were able to fight back and respond from a 5-0 deficit to finish the quarter 6-4 with a pair of goals each coming from junior attacker Logan Frank and freshman midfielder Dominic Contella.
The second quarter was a back and forth battle with the sides matching up pretty evenly which spurred more emotion as the game began to get more aggressive as bigger hits were dished out. The Red Hawks however would be able to add two more goals to their tally as the River Hawks would find the net once through sophomore midfielder Rob Swenson to keep the River Hawks within reach as they ended the half losing 8-5.
As the third quarter began, the River Hawks were ready to get back into the game and find the back of the net. Susquehanna would reward themselves with goals from Swenson and Dick.
But as the quarter wound down, the momentum would shift into the Red Hawks’ hands as they found the net on numerous occasions to give them a 12-8 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter proved to be Montclair State’s as they went on a 7-0 scoring run to put the game out of reach for the River Hawks. Susquehanna’s offense could barely generate anything as they only put up two shots in the quarter as they went on to lose the game 19-8.
“After watching the film from our loss against Montclair, we know we saw we left some scoring opportunities on the field. We also had some communication issues on defense and in our clear but, all of these things are easily fixable going forward. We saw the difference in our energy coming out to the game cost us early and we know we need to step it up for conference play,” Dick said.
“I think our team will come out with the same level of energy and intensity as we did against Salisbury. We have a young team that is looking to prove ourselves and make a statement in conference play. We will tighten up defensively and make sure to take full advantage of every scoring play,” Dick continued.
