By Peter Vassilakos
The River Hawks welcomed the Drew Rangers to Sassafras field for the first conference game of the season for both clubs. The River Hawks are coming off a two-game winning streak hoping to make it three and start undefeated in conference play.
The Rangers came out of the gate firing with a goal from Emma DiPatri coming with under two minutes gone in the opening period. The River Hawks answered, thanks to Kelsey Homberg’s first goal of the day. The Rangers bounced back from the tying goal with a 3-0 run coming one minute after the River Hawks answered. Both teams traded a few goals in the dying minutes of the opening period, making the score 6-3 after an action-packed first quarter.
Susquehanna opened the quarter scoring two unanswered points thanks to Homberg and Hannah McNamara. The Rangers answered the 2-0 run with one of their own to put the lead back up to 3 (8-5) going into the halftime break.
The third quarter was exactly like the first two quarters with both teams trading goals back and forth with the score at 10-8 going into the last quarter. The River Hawks opened the fourth quarter with a goal from McNamara followed by Caitlin Harvey.
The 2-0 run tied the score for the first time in the game. The Rangers continued to answer the River Hawks with a goal of their own a little over a minute after Harvey found the net for the River Hawks. The River Hawks kept pushing for the game-tying goal with time against them. Finally, the pressure broke the Rangers defensive hold, with Allie Kutler scoring with 6:04 left on the clock. Neither team broke the deadlock before the end of regulation, going into overtime.
The first overtime period was almost over when the Rangers found the back of the net. There were two seconds left in the quarter when Lizzy Barret scored for the Rangers, ending this overtime thriller. The River Hawks start off conference play 0-1 with Catholic coming up on the weekend.
