Photo Courtesy of Miles DeRosa
By Miles DeRosa, Staff Writer
The 17th-ranked Susquehanna Field Hockey team split their games at home on Selinsgrove this past week, defeating York College 3-1 on Wednesday, September 22 before losing their first game of the season to conference opponent Scranton on September 25, bringing their record to 7-1 on the year.
It was raining throughout the game Wednesday, but things went as they have for much of the season for the River Hawks against York. They were aggressive early on both sides, sending two or three defenders whenever a York player gained possession and pushing the ball forward with lots of help into the offensive zone. York’s defense bent in the first but didn’t break.
The River Hawks controlled possession but were unable to get any good looks on goal. The Spartans were able to generate some corner looks in the counterattack—where Susquehanna’s defense struggled to get back on time—but none led to any serious opportunities.
York came out firing in the second quarter, controlling possession, and pushing forward in the first couple minutes. But the Susquehanna defense was able to weather the storm and trigger a counterattack that led to a string of corners, and eventually the first goal of the game, put in by sophomore forward Ashley Schreffler off a deflected pass. It was her first goal of the season, and the score gave the River Hawks a palpable momentum boost, as their passing and defensive intensity both improved immediately.
“As a team at the end of the first quarter, in the two-minute break, we had talked about how York was man marking us and we talked about what we had to do to work around them so we could generate offense,” Schreffler said. “Our team never gives up so our consistent effort could have definitely worn them down over time.”
York brought a lot of energy at the opening of the second half, but the Susquehanna defense again stood strong, regained possession, and started moving the ball down field. Schreffler, who again found herself in the middle of the box, knocked senior forward Cassie West’s pass out of the air and into the back of the net for her second goal of the game.
A few minutes later, the River Hawks found the back of the net again. This time it was emerging first-year forward Rebecca Rippans, redirecting a rocket from senior forward Sam Banks, who came streaking down the sideline, into the top of the net.
The rain picked up heavily in the fourth quarter as the River Hawks opted to sit back and protect their three-goal lead as opposed to piling on. York sent everyone forward and was able to add one in the fourth. Sam Collins collected an errant pass off the post and was able to scoop it in for the score before time expired.
“With rain and bad weather, we tend to play better because of the wet turf, when the turf is wet the ball moves faster,” Schreffler said. “We are a fast team so when the ball moves faster, we do tend to play better.”
Against Scranton on Saturday, Susquehanna’s luck ran out. The two teams split possession early, with Susquehanna at first looking to be in control, using speed and precise passing to infiltrate Scranton’s back line, but nothing came. Critical passes missed their mark and moves didn’t materialize.
Scranton was able to take control of possession towards the end of the first quarter. They had a couple of shots on goal by the end of the first, but a couple of diving saves by junior goalkeeper Mackenzie Bross kept the score knotted at zero.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Scranton was able to take control again. Royals forward Katie Redding was able to find a soft spot in the back corner of the Susquehanna defense. She received a long, looping pass up the sideline before charging into the box and scoring to make it 1-0.
Redding scored again later in the quarter, off a penalty stroke. A Susquehanna defender charged back to save an empty-net breakaway goal but was called for the stroke on the play. All game Scranton sat back in man and waited for transition opportunities, and converted when they had those chances.
“I definitely think today just in general our team was off,” head coach Allison Fordyce said. “We weren’t connecting, we’ve been really good at connecting as a unit and being able to transfer the ball to initiate attack and today we didn’t utilize our transfer as we normally do. And I don’t think we got the tempo and the ball movement that we’re used to. I think in general it was just an off day for us.”
The River Hawks lost the foul battle in this contest—which was frequently interrupted by whistles, a total of 130 fouls were called—71-59.
Fordyce said, “We felt like there was no flow to the game, that it was just whistle, move the ball, whistle, move the ball. So, too many fouls, just little things that are all fixable, all correctable. But we are definitely a team and a staff that will watch the film and analyze what we can do better.”
The River Hawks didn’t roll over and came out with a palpable sense of urgency in the second half, but nothing came together for them. They were able to get a lot of corners in this game, situations where the River Hawks have been good at converting this year but were unable to on Saturday. 11 corners came and went with no Susquehanna goal.
Scranton added a third goal halfway through the third. The look was generated by strong interior passing inside the box, as Redding completed her hat trick off a pass from Elle Collins.
The fourth quarter was much of the same. The frantic movement from Susquehanna never came together in a cohesive attack and Scranton continued to sit back and disrupt the Susquehanna offense whenever they got the chance. After a few more corners came and went, Scranton closed out the game for a 3-0 victory.
It was a disappointing loss at a bad time for The River Hawks, dropping their first conference game of the season, falling to 0-1 in conference play. They will have three chances to get back on track this week when they play Misericordia at home on Tuesday, September 28 and Albright College at home on Thursday, September 30 before traveling to Madison, New Jersey to face off against conference opponent Drew on Saturday, October 2.