Photo Courtesy of Emma Pettingill
By Ben Shaffer, Contributing Writer
Susquehanna University played host to Penn College for a non-conference match at Sassafras field Wednesday, Oct. 13. Coming off a 4-1 victory against Moravian College, The River Hawks looked to make it back-to-back wins as they moved into the latter half of their regular season schedule.
Susquehanna set the tone early, scoring their first goal at the 15:34 mark. An assist from sophomore Adrian Dilascio set up junior Michael Morelli inside the penalty box for his third goal of the season. While the offense continued to create opportunities, they were unable to find the back of the net again before halftime. Susquehanna’s defense held strong and took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
At the 62:06 mark in the second half, Dilascio sent a through pass towards senior Brian McKee who tallied the River Hawks’ second goal of the afternoon, after beating several Wildcat defenders in a foot race to the ball.
In an attempt to mount a late comeback, Penn scored a goal of their own in the 77th minute of play, which made it 2-1.
Susquehanna was not phased, they continued to dominate possession after Penn’s lone goal. In the 82nd minute, the Hawks quickly turned defense into offense and created a scoring attack. First-year Olivier Mathieu cleaned up junior Kevin Ayoso’s rebound for his fourth goal of the season, Ayoso was credited with an assist.
Susquehanna scored three times on ten shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Gerrit Stech stood tall, making five saves on six shots on goal.
After pulling their record to an even .500, The River Hawks traveled to Elizabethtown College on Saturday, Oct. 16. Susquehanna had not beaten the Blue Jays since 2012. Elizabethtown, who sits atop the Landmark Conference standings, came in as the favorite on their homecoming weekend.
As expected, Elizabethtown came out firing early. Energized by an active homecoming crowd, the Blue Jays quickly scored their first goal at the 1:20 mark, then added another in the 11th minute.
Susquehanna faced a substantial early deficit against a talented opponent, but found a way to keep playing hard despite the obstacles set before them.
“We shot ourselves in the foot twice in the first ten minutes and we responded. In the pouring rain, on their homecoming weekend, on a wet grass field,” McKee said.
Only six minutes after Elizabethtown’s second tally, Dilascio initiated the River Hawks comeback with an unassisted goal off of a free kick. In the 21st minute, the Hawks evened the score at 2-2 after junior Sean Kellogg sent a free kick to Morelli who found the back of the net.
The score remained knotted at 2-2 going into halftime. At the 59:02 mark in the second half, first-year Max Paczewski added an unassisted goal to put the River Hawks up 3-2.
“We saw that they liked to clog the middle of the field and they play on grass which slows the game down. So our game plan was to get the ball high and wide into space for our wingers, who are really athletic and fast, and get them the ball in space 1v1 with their defenders. In a way, the grass field and their style forced us to play to our strengths and we got the result we wanted,” McKee said.
The Blue Jays maintained offensive pressure, but were unable to find the back of the net before regulation ended. In the 71st minute, Stech made a crucial save on an Elizabethtown scoring chance, which was one of his three saves on the day. The River Hawks were able to secure an impressive comeback, their first win over Elizabethtown in nine years and their third straight victory.
“The two things I’d point to are our team’s work ethic and attitude. Everybody on our team shows up and works their tail off every day, and nobody cares about who gets the credit. Everyone has one common goal and that’s to get better every day we show up for practice. The results we’ve been getting makes our team want to work even harder to keep the success going,” McKee said about Susquehanna’s recent win streak.
The River Hawks next match is at home against Landmark Conference opponent Juniata College on Wednesday, October 20th at 7 p.m.
