Photo Courtesy of Miles DeRosa
By Miles DeRosa, Staff Writer
The 18th ranked Susquehanna Field Hockey team extended their winning streak to five games to start the season, beating King’s College 1-0 on Wednesday, September 15, and Gettysburg 3-1 on their home field on Saturday, September 18.
After an hour and a half long weather delay, the River Hawks got out to an aggressive start against King’s, immediately serving the ball into King’s zone and getting out into the forecheck. Susquehanna peppered King’s net with shots for most of the first quarter, a trend that would continue throughout the game. Halfway through the first King’s got out on the counterattack, leading to a couple corners, for their first and best chances of the day.
The second quarter brought much of the same. It felt like the ball stayed in King’s zone for the entirety of the quarter. The River Hawks again generated strong looks on goal, but King’s goaltender and team defense turned each shot away. Defenders flew in to protect far posts and cover gaps if King’s goalie, Ellie Glatz, was drawn out of position. Glatz would finish the game with ten saves in an impressive performance despite the loss.
Early in the third quarter, first-year forward Rebecca Rippans broke the tie, fighting to the front of the net to put the ball in off a hectic rebound. This was the second in a row where the winning goal came off a rebound for Susquehanna; they beat Dickinson in similar fashion on September 8.
“After watching film on both teams, we knew we had to keep shooting to generate scoring opportunities,” Rippans said. “Both of our goals in these two games have come off of scrappy rebounds which is something we talked about before the game and need to continue to fight for.”
In the fourth, Susquehanna continued to generate pressure and hold the ball in King’s zone. King’s tallied only one shot on goal the whole game, which was turned away by Susquehanna goalkeeper Mackenzie Bross.
“Going into the game we wanted to focus on not only controlling the game but playing a very offensively minded game and keep the ball in our attack end. This is something we are working on in practice and are continuing to build on,” Rippans said.
The team would continue this offensive mindset on Saturday against Gettysburg where they scored two goals in the opening six minutes. Both goals came off penalty corners, and both came off the stick of standout senior defender Annalee Smith. The River Hawks moved the ball well in the box to create these open looks, both goals coming off assists—the first from junior forward Ashley Schreffler and the second from senior midfielder Katie Koch.
Gettysburg would respond quickly, getting out in transition and catching Susquehanna in an odd man rush. Alex Wenz made the initial move and passed across the field to Henna Fraiman for the score. The downside to Susquehanna’s aggressive style of play, constantly pushing players into the attacking zone, is that it leaves them vulnerable to odd man transition attacks such as there. This was the first goal Susquehanna has allowed outside of a penalty shot all season.
The second quarter was back and forth with both teams generating some good opportunities but neither team broke through until the closing minutes, when Smith lobbed a pass into Gettysburg’s zone. The pass was controlled by Rippans, who dumped it off to first-year midfielder Lydia Hidlay for the score.
The second half was back and forth. The Bullets were aggressive pushing the ball into The River Hawks zone and attempted nine corners in the half. Susquehanna nearly added another goal early in the third quarter, but it was met at the goal line by Gettysburg defender Sarah Scott.
Despite being the highest scoring game of the season for the River Hawks, the story in this one was a defensive unit that diffused 13 Gettysburg corners holding the bullets scoreless on those tries. Even with all those corner opportunities, Gettysburg mustered just five shots on goal, four of which were turned away by Bross.
Susquehanna will look to carry their strong defense and offensive aggression into next week when they play York College at home on Wednesday, September 22 and their first conference opponent of the season Scranton at home on Saturday, September 25.
