Photo Courtesy of Bill Wood
By Dustin Waleff, Sports Editor
The Susquehanna women’s lacrosse team ended their season, bowing out of the Landmark Conference tournament, falling to top seed and nationally ranked Catholic University Cardinals 18-6 on April 28 in Washington, D.C.
The Cardinals used two different scoring runs, one in each half to blow the game open.
“Playing a team multiple times, you have the advantage of being able to make adjustments and learn from your performance,” junior midfielder Katie Hoerman said. “More than anything, I think our fitness helped us in each game we came up against them. Catholic is always solid on both ends of the field, and I think we did a good job of finding gaps and capitalizing on our awareness defensively this year. Offensively, I think our patience helped us and we were able to score off of some great feeds.”
Controlling the opening draw, Catholic jumped out on the front foot, keeping the River Hawks hemmed in deep in their own defensive zone, but were unable to beat sophomore goalie Emmaleen Regan.
However, the River Hawks struck first on the counterattack, with freshman attacker Heather Riefenhauser beating Catholic goalie Rachel Searle, just over three minutes gone in the first half.
Catholic responded with two goals of their own as attacker Caroline Beckett and midfielder Molly Monaghan, found the twine a minute and a half apart, as the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead.
The River Hawks stuck around and knotted the score up as freshman midfielder Madi Mitchell beat Searle, four minutes after falling behind to make the score 2-2.
With the score all tied up, Catholic found another gear, as they found the net for the next seven goals, to open a 9-2 lead.
During the run, midfielder Clare Richards provided the bookends, with the first being assisted by midfielder Caitlyn Bowles and the second assisted by attacker Julia Piet.
Between the two Richards goals, midfielder Anna Corona, midfielder Anna Maupin, and attacker Kate Olsen all collected one goal, while midfielder Grace Hill grabbed two goals.
Susquehanna was eventually able to stop the run, as freshman midfielder Kelsey Homberg scored while down a player, to cut the deficit to 9-3, with just over seven minutes to play in the first half.
Maupin grabbed her second goal to get the Cardinals into double figures, as they made their way to the halftime break, with Catholic on top 10-3.
Heading into the second half, Susquehanna made a goaltending change, as freshman Bea Daudelin took over for Regan.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were even, as six goals were scored, with three coming from each squad.
Catholic grabbed the first two goals of the half 20 seconds apart. Richards completed the hat trick with the assist coming from Beckett a minute and a half into the half, before Olsen got her second on the assist from Bowles.
Down 12-3, Susquehanna responded with two of their own. Both goals were unassisted, with the first coming from senior midfielder Nicole Hauck and the second from junior attacker Caroline Chase.
Each team then got one of the next two goals. Catholics came from Olsen, which was her hat trick marker, before Riefenhauser kept the deficit at seven, as she got her second of the game.
With the lead seven, Catholic ended the game on a 5-0 run.
During the run, Olsen collected three more goals to finish with a game-high six goals, while Monaghan grabbed her second of the game and attacker Riley Cherkes scored her first.
As the final horn sounded and time ran out, so did the season for the River Hawks. With the COVID-19-adjusted schedule resulting in only conference games, Susquehanna finished with a 4-5 record and Landmark Conference semifinal appearance.
Senior midfielder Tori Lombardi said: “I could not be more thankful to have gotten a senior season after all we have gone through. I was so grateful to be able to play one game in a pandemic like this, against any team. Being able to get on the field with my teammates for one last season was what I hoped for. This sport and my teammates made my senior year so special. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to have such an amazing president and athletic director and staff who were able to make sports happen this year. I know it has been very hard on everyone and they really pushed for us to have a season.”
Following the semifinal games the Landmark Conference announced the women’s lacrosse all conference teams, with three River Hawks making the cut. The trio of senior defender Mary Vilardi, Homberg and Chase were all named to the All-Landmark Women’s Lacrosse First Team.
“I’m very honored to have been selected, I honestly wasn’t expecting it but knowing that my hard work has paid off means a lot,” Chase said.
