Photos By Michael Lipscomb
By Darin Martin
The women’s lacrosse team opened its Landmark Conference slate with a dominant performance Saturday, defeating Drew 14-4 at Sassafras Field.
Junior forward Abby Andrus got the River Hawks (3-5 overall, 1-0 Landmark) off to a fast start, scoring just over a minute into the contest. Drew (2-6, 0-1) responded two minutes later to tie the game, but Susquehanna took control from there, netting five unanswered goals before the end of the first quarter to put the River Hawks in full control of the game early.
The Rangers were able to make a small push in the third with back-to-back goals. However, a quick response from Andrus put the game beyond reasonable doubt late in the quarter.
Andrus sparked the scoring run with a goal off a free position shot at the 10:39 mark of the first quarter. She finished the game with five goals, bringing season total up to 17 and her career total to 81. Andrus also reached her 90th career point, which puts her well within reach of the century-mark milestone.
Sophia Trively, Allie Kutler, Makaela Larkin, Waverly Oake-Libow and Sloane Coddington also contributed goals to the winning effort.
Senior Liv Owen recorded five points, including three assists. She is just one shy of 100 career assists—one away from tying the school record currently held by Caroline Chase ‘22.
“I am really proud of that,” Owen said. “My good friend Caroline Chase holds the record, so the fact that I was able to play with her and now hold a similar record is really awesome.”
Owen credited the team’s ball movement in breaking down Drew’s defense.
“I think we were just really good at finding the open man today,” she said. “Drew plays a tough zone defense, and when we moved the ball quickly, we were able to find the open person really easily.”
Susquehanna was able to outshoot Drew 30-26, with 17 of those shots being on target.
Susquehanna’s defense was equally impressive, allowing just four goals while forcing 11 of Drew’s 18 turnovers. The River Hawks also collected 25 ground balls.
Junior goalkeeper Aerin O’Brien, who recorded her 300th career save in the previous game, continued her strong form with 11 stops. She denied the Rangers on all six of their free-position opportunities.
“I think today was a really big game, and we knew we had to go out there and get the job done, especially since it was the first Landmark game,” O’Brien said. “We just came out here and gave it our all. I had a really strong defense in front of me, and we played really well.”
She added, “We knew we didn’t want to start 0-1, so starting 1-0 gives us good confidence to keep playing strong.”
The River Hawks will hit the road for a non-conference bout at Alvernia on Tuesday night before heading to Moravian for more Landmark action at 1 p.m. Saturday.
