Photos Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Thamoda Haputhanthri
Susquehanna’s Men’s Soccer team fell to a 1-3 record after a frustrating 3-2 loss to the Marywood Pacers Wednesday at Sassafras Field.
Susquehanna found it difficult in the opening 10 minutes, as Marywood consistently found space down the right hand side, as opportunity after opportunity fell to the hands of Jason Krum in goal.
Marywood’s Kyle Falcon would find his teammate, Donnie Powell on a breakaway. The winger would cut inside and tucked the ball in the far post to open the scoring in the 8th minute.
From then on, chances felt rare for the River Hawks, as Marywood would make it difficult on their buildup play, they would have to resort to other means.
A corner swung in dangerously in the 17th minute and caused confusion as it fell to junior Aidan Diglio who would put away a sumptuous finish to equalize the game.
The River Hawk’s enthusiasm would only last six minutes, as Powell would find the towering head of Drew Smith to put the River Hawks behind at halftime.
Susquehanna would come out in the second half, starting better than they did in the first, which was thanks to freshman Luke Baker, who looked strong, composed and defensively astute.
The second half would be full of frustration for Susquehanna, who would not be able to build out from the back, thanks to the Pacer’s brilliant pace.
The River Hawks consistently found themselves locked up through the middle, having to force the ball over the top only to be beaten by the astute backline of Marywood.
The Pacers found themselves able to soak up Susquehanna’s pressure and hit them on the counter thanks to pacy attackers breaking the defensive line.
Krum would look to save Susquehanna’s skin as he made a brilliant diving save followed by an incredible double save to keep the one goal deficit. Ryan Surowiec would expose the space in behind on the left-hand side, to tuck away what looked to be the game thanks to an assist from Aiden Schmitt.
All hope was not lost for the River Hawks, as Ben Faranda-Diedrich set up by Nathan Kryder would set up a grandstand finish, where they opted to throw the kitchen sink in search of an equalizer.
Unfortunately for the River Hawks, that equalizer never came, and they would fall to 1-3 on the season, this their first away loss to the Pacers.
The story of the game saw Marywood outshoot Susquehanna 22 to 14, with Susquehanna making one more shot on goal than their opponents.
The game posed a tough physical affair, as 23 fouls would be recorded on the night, as the Pacers put up 65% of the total fouls.
Krum put up five saves in his start and can hold his head up high. Baker, Khalil McDonald and Nicky Gray proved to be positives the River Hawks could take from this performance.
Susquehanna will look to kick on as they face Haverford College for their second away game of the season, come this Saturday September 12th at 3pm.