SCRANTON, Pa. – The Susquehanna field hockey team trailed Scranton by just one at half but was out-scored 4-0 in the second half, falling 5-0 to the Royals on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday's contest marked the Landmark Conference opener for both teams and while SU (5-6, 0-1) was within just one of the lead at the midway point of the game, four second-half Royals (7-1, 1-0) goals and 28 total shots by Scranton added up to a 5-0 loss for Susquehanna.

The Royals held an overall 28-4 edge in total shots, holding the Crusaders without a single shot in the second half. Scranton also had 16 penalty corners to SU's four.

Susquehanna goalie Alyssa Rothman (Trooper, Pa./Methacton) racked up 10 saves in her 45 minutes of work and Morgan Ludlam (Middletown, Del./Appoquinimink) had five more during her 25 minutes of work.

Cayla Spatz (Sinking Spring, Pa./Berks Catholic) and Lauren Cram (East Brunswick, N.J./East Brunswick) led SU with two shots apiece.

Scranton struck early, scoring just 4:11 into the game. However, at the end of the first half, the Crusaders seemed to hold the momentum. They took three shots over the final 11 minutes in addition to three penalty corners over the same span, with the final corner coming at the 34:13 mark of the period. Unfortunately, none of the shots or corners translated into goals but SU dominated the offensive action heading into halftime.

Unfortunately, the tide turned in the second half and it turned in favor of Scranton. Just 45 seconds into the period, the Royals' Alyssa Whitman scored for a 2-0 Scranton lead and less than four minutes later, Alyssa Fania scored to put SU in a 3-0 hold.

The Royals went on to score two more goals within 120 seconds and the Crusaders were all of a sudden looking at a five-goal deficit with 23 minutes remaining but Susquehanna failed to take a shot in the half and the 5-0 score held up.

SU returns home to host Drew on Oct. 4 at 1 p.m.