Photo Courtesy of Robert Isacson
By Hannah Grove, Staff Writer and Carly Mersky, Staff Writer
Susquehanna women’s lacrosse team went 1-2 in their three games between March 31 and April 7. The River Hawks dropped the first two matches, first at the University of Scranton, 18-6, in Scranton Pa., before falling to the Moravian Greyhounds 14-12, on April 3 in Selinsgrove, Pa. Susquehanna ended the three game stretch defeating the Juniata College Eagles 17-5 on April 7 in Selinsgrove.
Scranton jumped out early against Susquehanna, running out to an 11-0 lead before the River Hawks were able to find an answer.
During the run for Scranton, the Royals had five different goal scorers, the first was scored by attacker Jill Hensen, before midfielder Halle Conklin rattled off three straight goals.
The Royals continued to pour on the offense as attacker Erin Reich and attacker Jennifer Williams scored back-to-back twice, pushing the lead to 8-0.
Conklin then grabbed her fourth of the half and Henson added her second, before attacker Tara Kotten made it 11-0 with just over six minutes to play in the first half.
The River Hawks got themselves on the board in the final four minutes of the half as junior midfielder Katie Hoerman ended the Royals scoring run, with the score heading into the half 11-1 in favor of Scranton.
Senior Sarah Bobrowski said: “Scranton is always a great competitor so as a team we knew right away we needed to come out strong, smart and aggressive. We have a super talented team this year and when we play our game and together, we are unstoppable.”
The River Hawks got off to a quick start in the second half as senior attacker Nicole Hauck found the back of the net 30 seconds into the half.
The Royals responded however, as both Williams and Reich collected their hat trick markers to push the Scranton lead to 13-2.
Freshman midfielder Kelsey Homberg kept up the River Hawks’ offense as she was able to cut the deficit back to 10, beating goalkeeper Anna Tamke.
Scranton upped the pressure again as Henson collected her third goal of the game, while Reich picked up her fourth and fifth goals before attacker Raegan Dunn scored her first of the game.
The River Hawks went on a run of their own as Homberg and Hauck both scored their second goals before midfielder Caitlin Harvey scored, cutting the deficit to 17-6.
The Royals picked up the final goal of the game as Kotten grabbed her second marker with just over three minutes to play.
That was all the action as Scranton dominated from start to finish defeating Susquehanna 18-6.
Susquehanna returned home to host Moravian College on April 3.
Early in the first half, Moravian came out firing, collecting the first four goals of the game as midfielder Meaghan McMullan scored twice, while midfielder Lindsey Strohl and attacker Danielle Sullivan added the other two tallie, just over eight minutes into the game.
Susquehanna was able to stop the Greyhound run as junior attacker Caroline Chase collected two goals with 19:58 minutes left and 17:33 minutes left.
Moravian responded, as McMullan collected her third of the half, thirty seconds after Chase had cut the lead to two.
Following McMullan’s third, Susquehanna responded by scoring three straight. Freshman midfielder Madi Mitchell scored the first two goals of the run. The first came as she collected the loose ball at midfield and took it herself, while the second came from the free position.
With the lead cut to one, Homberg collected the pass from Chase and knotted the game up at 5, with seven minutes left in the first half.
Moravian moved back in front as attacker Lexi Robinson found the twine behind sophomore goalie Emmaleen Regan.
Susquehanna responded with the final three goals of the first half as Chase scored her third from the free position before senior midfielder Tori Lombardi gave the River Hawks the lead on the man advantage, before adding a second goal twenty seconds later, giving Susquehanna an 8-6 lead at the break.
“I was able to put up two goals with two great feeds from down low by Chase,” Lombardi said. “I am able to read the whole field, keep my head up to see our next move and work with my teammates to get results.
Starting the second half Moravian came out hot again putting themselves back ahead of Susquehanna. Moravian scored four of the first five goals of the house. Attacker Megan Donnelly cut the deficit to one, before freshman attacker Heather Riefenhauser, extended it the lead back to two.
With Susquehanna up two, McMullan and Strohl scored three straight for the Greyhounds to put Moravian back in front, before Donnelly added her second making it a two goal lead for Moravina with 20 minutes left to play.
There was back and forth action as both teams scored twice, however, Moravian maintained the lead, 12-11, with 15 minutes to play.
Strohl extended the lead to two as she found the back of the net from the free position, before Donnelly collected her hat trick tally, making the lead 14-11.
Susquehanna was only able to get one more back as Hoerman beat goalkeeper Brelyn Friedman.
That was as close as the River Hawks would get, as Moravian would hang on to defeat Susquehanna 14-12.
“All in all, I’d say this game was one of our best games as a team,” Hoerman said. “Despite our loss in the second half, we know what details we can work out to make adjustments and come out on top next time. Perfecting the small details makes a big difference and I am confident that if we continue to play with this urgency we will have great success as a unit ahead of us this season.”
The River Hawks remained at home, ending their two game losing streak defeating Juniata 17-5 on April 7.
Susquehanna jumped out quickly as Chase grabbed the first two goals of the contest, the first coming 30 seconds in, with the second coming two minutes later.
Juniata responded as attacker Paige Riker and Michaela Naccarini tied it at 2 with 16 and a half minutes to play in the first half.
The River Hawks scored the next four to blow the game open as Riefenhauser bookend the goals, with Chase collecting her hat trick goal and Hauck scoring in between.
In the final minute of the half, Juniata would get one back, as midfielder Talia Bertando cut the deficit to three, heading into the half, with Susquehanna up 6-3.
Early in the second half, both teams would grab another goal as Chase collected her fourth of the game as attacker Taylor Metz found the response for Juniata.
The River Hawks went on a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach. On the run, Chase scored three more times, to finish the day with seven goals.
Chase said, “I think my success was a result of the plays the coaching staff called against their defense and our offense running those plays so well, which allowed me to be in the best position to score.”
During the run, Riefenhauser scored three more, to finish the game with four, senior midfielder Alison Heimer added two of her own, while Harvey and Hoerman added the other two.
Juniata collected the final goal of the game as Bertrando used the bounce shot to beat freshman goalie Bea Daudelin. Susquehanna closed out the game defeating the Eagles 17-5.