Photo Courtesy of Wesley Rhoades
By Matt Guear, Contributing Writer
The Susquehanna University women’s soccer team fell to York College of Pennsylvania 1-0 on Saturday, September 18in Selinsgrove.
York came out of the gate hot and never really cooled off.
They worked the ball around Susquehanna’s defensive third and earned three corner kicks in two minutes. Junior goalie Carlie Marquette made two saves in that span. She would be tested a lot throughout this game, ending the game with 12 saves on 13 shots on goal.
Marquette said, “To be completely honest, it was just from all of my adrenaline and excitement. I had been waiting for my moment and I had a lot to prove in that game. I just went out there and played the way I knew how to.”
York continued to play an up-tempo offensive style and at 26:15 it paid off. Forward Alyssa Russell passed the ball across the top of the 18-yard box to Caitlyn Findlay and she scored to put York in the lead 1-0.
York nearly took a 2-0 lead but were thwarted by Marley Clendenin who made a key tackle in the 18-yard box and cleared the ball away.
From there, Susquehanna began to play with more energy. The last fifteen minutes of the half were more evenly matched, but still Susquehanna went into halftime down 1-0.
The River Hawks came out with more energy in the second half, which is something that coach Nick Hoover said they needed to do from the start.
“The message was to protect home field, which we didn’t in the result,” Hoover said. “We needed to come out stronger in the first half.”
The energy drastically picked up in the second half of the game. Susquehanna and York traded corner kicks to start the half, neither resulting in a goal.
Susquehanna kept the ball down in their attacking-third, getting their first shot off with 20:35 left in the game.
They continued to play energetically and were awarded two more corner kicks, the first at 12:15 and the second at 9:16. Neither of them resulted in a goal.
The final attack by Susquehanna came with about 3:30 left in the game. They had yet another corner kick that didn’t result in a goal. From there, York would clear the ball down the field and effectively end the game.
While they didn’t win, Coach Hoover was still happy with the team’s resiliency.
“Resiliency was a huge part of why we had a better second half. We didn’t play great, but our energy and intensity were much better,” Hoover said. “We worked hard in the second half to generate more chances and play a more intense game. We need to work on a lot, but specifically playing a more composed and decisive brand of attacking soccer.”
The River Hawks return to action on Wednesday, September 22, as they battle against Lycoming at Sassafras Field for the annual River Derby matchup.