WILKES-BARRE, PA - It was a plentiful day for Susquehanna University Field Hockey, taking a break from their young Landmark Conference season to pay a visit to King's College of Pennsylvania Wednesday afternoon. The rain played to the River Hawks' advantage as they cascaded down five goals on the Monarchs to walk away with a 5-1 victory and improve their record to 4-2.
After a scoreless first quarter Susquehanna moved into action to start the second, seizing upon a penalty corner chance as
Lydia Hidlay deflected in a blast from
Emma Campitelli to crack into the scoreboard at 1-0 with just over 14 minutes to play in the half. Eight minutes later SUFH got another one as a scramble played out in front of the cage.
Taylor Rothermel poked the ball through the defense and
Lexi Fumanti got a stick on it to collect her first goal of the season and a 2-0 Susquehanna halftime advantage. King's posed a royal threat early in the third quarter as Rowan Murray connected on her third score of the year to cut the Monarchs' deficit to 2-1. This was short-lived, though, as the River Hawks warded off this threat with three unanswered goals to close out the contest. The first came with ten minutes left in the third as
Mady Quigley passed the ball through the defense, which found
Kiara Koeller's stick and sent a shot that hit off the left leg of goalie Hannah Hagan and over the goal line to go up 3-1. This was echoed two minutes later as
Mady Quigley got on the board when
Kari Schmidt set her up with a wide-open shot at the cage off a penalty corner to make it 4-1. With the game in reach with just under five minutes remaining,
Lauren Leibensperger got the first goal of her career thanks to another setup from Schmidt, who fired one through the defense and bounced to Leibensperger who put on the finishing touch on way to victory.
The stat lines were loaded Wednesday as Susquehanna led in shots 19-3, including 14-2 in shots on goal. The Monarchs posted nine saves between their two goalkeepers, while
Ashley Derrick served in the cage for the first three quarters, earning one save to improve to 3-2 on the season. SU held a 9-3 advantage on penalty corners, two of which resulted in scores.
Wednesday marked the first career goals for first-years Koeller and Quigley and sophomore Leibensperger. Schmidt's two-assist day pots her numbers up to seven points on two goals and three assists, tying with Hidlay for the team lead in all three categories. Career-wise Schmidt's numbers jump to 51 points on 15 goals and 21 assists. Hidlay comes in at 18 points on six goals and assists, along with Rothermel tagging 15 points on six goals and three assists. The win also moves head coach
Allison Fordyce one win away from the 100 career-win milestone with 99 between her field hockey head coaching runs at Susquehanna (80 wins), York College of Pa. (11 wins, and Notre Dame College of Md. (eight wins).
The River Hawks prepare for a busy away-home weekend, starting with game two of their Landmark Conference season at Wilkes Saturday, followed by hosting 11th-ranked Lynchburg on Sunday as part of the program's Connie Harnum Memorial / Alopecia Awareness Game.
