Jake Smolokoff and Andrew Porzio each scored three goals to lead a balanced attack for the Susquehanna University Men's Lacrosse team as the River Hawks took an 8-3 lead in the third quarter and posted a 9-8 victory over Elizabethtown College Saturday afternoon in the Landmark Conference opener on Sassafras Field in Selinsgrove.

The conference loss was the first in the regular season for the Blue Jays (3-4 overall, 0-1 Landmark) since joining the league in 2015.

"This was a huge win for our program," said Susquehanna head coach Stewart Moan. "Winning any conference game is big especially a home game and to start out the season with a win over the defending champions is great for the program."

Elizabethtown took an early lead by scoring the first goal of the contest just over a minute into the game but Susquehanna (6-4, 1-0) responded when Smolokoff scored an unassisted goal 45 second later to knot the score at 1-1.

The Blue Jays continued the wild opening few minutes of the game and came right back 14 seconds later to score and take a 2-1 lead. Smolokoff tallied another unassisted goal with two minutes later to tie the game again at 2-2.

The River Hawks came out hot in the second quarter, scoring the first three goals of the period to jump ahead 5-2. Freshman Colton Dick scored on an assist from Jack Donnelly to give Susquehanna its first lead of the game 1:10 into the second quarter before Porzio scored to make it a two-goal lead for the River Hawks with 10:09 left in the first half.

Dick scored another goal with 4:28 remaining in the half to cap off a strong stretch for the River Hawks.

Elizabethtown trimmed the lead with a goal in the closing minutes and the team entered the halftime intermission with Susquehanna holding a 5-3 edge.

Susquehanna scored the first three goals in the third quarter to take control of the game. Connor Ward got it started on an assist from Tyler Lewis at the 10:30 mark. Two minutes later, Porzio scored an unassisted goal and followed it up a few moments later with his third goal of the game on an assist by Jack DiGregorio.

Leading 8-3, the River Hawks surrendered two goals at the end of the third quarter and held an 8-5 lead heading into the final period.

Smolokoff started the fourth quarter on a positive note, capitalizing on a pass from Alec Tzaneteas with 12:33 remaining in the game to lead 9-5.

Elizabethtown scored three goals over the final seven minutes of the game, but the River Hawks held on for the 9-8 victory.

Pierce Mead won 14-of-20 faceoffs, including a crucial faceoff with 18 seconds remaining that allowed Susquehanna to run out the clock.

Dylan Abplanalp made eight saves for the River Hawks and made several key plays down the stretch including an interception on a Blue Jay pass and a big save in the closing minutes on a point blank shot attempt.

"The defense did a good job despite giving up a couple goals late," said Moan. "Today's game shows that the Landmark Conference is truly up for grabs this year. There were a couple upsets you might say as teams predicted in the bottom half of the preseason poll, like us at No. 6, won games today."

The River Hawks travel to Moravian for another Landmark Conference game at 6 p.m. Friday.