Photo by Christian Vetrone, Photography Editor
By Matt Guear
Emily Wertz bagged a double and assisted a goal for the women’s soccer team on Wednesday afternoon as the players defeated DeSales by a score of 3-0 at Sassafras Fields Complex., The team earned its first win of the year.
The River Hawks (1-3) struggled to get going early as DeSales (0-5) relentlessly attacked. SU would continuously clear the ball out of their defensive third but would fail to maintain possession.
The momentum switched in the seventeenth minute when Wertz received a through ball, which drew DeSales goalkeeper Jozlyn Minnema out of her net, and scored to make it 1-0 in favor of the River Hawks.
After the goal, Susquehanna went back to primarily playing defense as DeSales hoarded most of the possession.
“DeSales did well, especially in the first 10 minutes of both halves, to put pressure on us in the middle third of the field,” said SU coach Nick Hoover. “Our midfielders and especially our back line stayed together and didn’t allow that final dangerous ball. They’re still working hard to be a cohesive unit, and today was another step towards that goal.”
With eight minutes left in the first half, a corner kick was whipped into the box and quickly headed towards the net when River Hawk goalkeeper Kayleigh Saboja made a diving save to preserve the SU lead.
The River Hawks came out in the second half looking energized, generating much more offense than they had in the first half.
In the 66th minute, Wertz struck again. She took a through ball down the sideline and delivered a cross to forward Marley Sprenkel, who finished off the play to give SU a two-goal advantage.
“Emily has such a high work rate, shows such speed and physicality on the field every game,” Hoover said. Today she showed tremendous poise, especially on the ball she played across to Marley Sprenkel for our second goal.”
Both teams traded more possession back and forth until Wertz struck for the third time just before the 88th minute. With two defenders swarming her, she drew the goalkeeper out of her net just enough and deposited the ball below the cross bar to deliver the dagger and put Susquehanna up 3-0.
The team will be in action again at 4 p.m. Saturday when they travel west to play Grove City. They will then return home on Wednesday, when they host Ursinus at 6:30 p.m.