SELINSGROVE, PA (October 19, 2022) – The Susquehanna field hockey team returned to Selinsgrove after a weekend away from home, welcoming Keystone College to Sassafras Field for a non-conference matchup. After being dealt their first loss in a month over the weekend, the River Hawks returned to winning ways with a strong 3-0 result over Keystone.
SU was in control from the opening whistle, dominating possession and keeping the ball in Keystone's end. Their first scoring chance came on a penalty corner in the 4th minute, which produced a shot for Kari Schmidt that went just wide of the cage. They threatened again a few minutes later, earning another corner and another shot by Schmidt, this one stopped by a defensive save. Sophia Prata would produce two more shots for Susquehanna late in the period, one forcing a save from the Keystone keeper, to give SU four shots in the period with no response from the Giants.
Keystone would finally produce their first shot of the game at the start of the second period, earning a penalty corner of their own but having the resulting shot go wide. That would be their only shot of the first half. Meanwhile, Susquehanna would produce a sustained string of chances through the final five minutes of the half, racking up four shots on goal that forced saves and three penalty corners, with the third finally paying off as Annalee Smith inserted the ball, took up a position near the goal, and made no mistake when Katie Bucher found a passing lane to return the ball to her, firing home to get Susquehanna on the board.
After taking the 1-0 lead into halftime, the offense broke open for SU in the third period, with the team racking up an astonishing nine penalty corners in just that period, producing five shots and scoring twice to expand the lead. Smith got her second goal of the game, this time assisted by Ashley Schreffler. The brace gives Smith 12 goals on the season, a career-high tally for the fifth-year defender and good enough for second in the Landmark Conference. The third goal saw Rebecca Ripans fire a laser from the near the edge of the circle that rifled past the keeper to give Susquehanna firm command of the proceedings.
It was not a cruise through the fourth period for the River Hawks though, as they had to muster some strong defense to hold onto their clean sheet, stopping Keystone from scoring on any of the six penalty corners they earned in the period and allowing only two shots, both of which were saved by goalkeeper Ashley Derrick, who entered the match at the start of the period and did well to hold on to the shutout.
Now 13-4 on the year and 5-0 in the Landmark Conference, Susquehanna will have a chance to seal the first seed in the Landmark Conference on Saturday, October 22, as they travel to face second-placed Scranton at 1 pm. This would be the River Hawks first time ever claiming the first seed in the Landmark Conference.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
