Photo By Abby MacMillan
By Cam Eberly
With late magic and a dominant performance by Goalkeeper Ashley Derrick, the field hockey team captures the Landmark title for the first time since 2018.
After closing out the victory against Moravian in the semifinals on Wednesday, 11/1, Scranton was announced as their opponent and Susquehanna immediately knew it had a tough task ahead. Scranton had beaten Susquehanna three out of the last six conference champions that they had appeared in.
This year, the River Hawks were determined to change that narrative. They had beaten them 2-0 earlier in the year which gave them confidence coming into the finals. However, the game did not start off how the River Hawks envisioned as they got down early.
Scranton took the lead on its first shot of the game at the 11-minute mark. This would be the only goal in the whole first half as the game went back and forth with not many shots on goal. Susquehanna only had one shot on goal in the first half and Scranton had two.
The third quarter was uneventful as well but there was more action on the goals. Both goalies stood strong, and the Royals took a one goal lead into the final fifteen minutes of the game. However, in the 58th minute, first-year Taylor Rothermel, came through when it looked bleak. She deflected the ball off a corner and into the goal. The score was even and sent the game into overtime.
In the first overtime, both teams had many chances but could not capitalize. In the second overtime, it was all Scranton, but Ashley Derrick rejected all four attempts from the Royals. Tthe River Hawks junior goalkeeper had 10 saves in overtime to send the game to penalty shots.
Derrick said this when asked about what she was thinking going into the biggest time of her Susquehanna career, “I was so nervous, words could never describe it. However, I’ve practiced it many times and trusted my instincts.”
Although she was nervous, she seemed cool as a cucumber as she blocked the first two Royal attempts in shootouts. Katie Bucher then did what she had done all season- giving the Hawks the lead when they needed it the most. Scranton then came back and got one passed to Derrick to tie the overtime shootout at 1-1. After Hidlay gave them the lead, the Royals were denied for one last time.
For her clutch performance at the end of the game, Ashley Derrick was awarded the Most Valuable player of the tournament.
“It was so surreal I could have never asked for a better team than SUFH ‘23. THE MVP award was the icing on the cake. Everything that day was just amazing,” said Derrick after securing the title.
The River Hawks will now head North as they play William Smith College (13-7) in the first round of the NCAA playoffs on Wednesday.
“We are going to win this game. If we do anything in history, it’s now or never,” added Derrick in her final comments.
