GRANTHAM, PA - Susquehanna women's lacrosse paid an early-season visit to 25th-ranked Messiah on Wednesday, looking to size up with the ranked Falcons that should serve them well as the season keeps on. The Falcons proved to be true to their status by scoring the first ten goals, though the River Hawks fought off their charge with two goals from Emma Kelleher and one from Abby Andrus as the score read 18-3 at game's end.

Susquehanna made sure early on that Messiah would have to work up to staying ahead as the Falcons only mustered two goals in the first quarter, with junior goalkeeper Aerin O'Brien turning in four of her ten saves through the first 15. Messiah regrouped during the quarter break and went to work with eight goals in the second quarter to take a 10-0 lead going into halftime. The leader of this group was Hayley Lettinga, who scored three of her six goals in the frame, while Jordan Lewicki added two more in this stretch as she totaled three goals on the day. O'Brien, meanwhile, was still on the case as she added four saves in this quarter. The River Hawks opened the second half with a two-goal rebuttal, backed by Andrus from Kelleher to cut into the lead at 10-1, then Kelleher adding a score of her own nearly two minutes later as the score read 10-2. While the Falcons answered by running off five consecutive goals to close out the quarter, Kelleher opened the fourth on a free-position goal for the team's last score of the afternoon. Messiah had three scores in the final quarter, two from Lettinga.

The senior Kelleher moves her career numbers up to 78 points on 52 points and 26 assists, while picking up two of the team's five draw controls to inch closer to the career century mark with 91. The junior Andrus now has 63 goals and nine assists for her career for 72 points. O'Brien ups her career saves tlly to 270 through 34 games played lifetime. Messiah led in shots, 33-12, including 28-7 in shots on goal. Kelleher's second goal helped SU succeed on its lone free position shot of the day, whereas the Falcons were unable to convert on any of their three free-position shots. 

The River Hawks descend into spring break for their next three games as they head to McDaniel on Saturday to put some fright into the Green Terror in a noon matchup. They are back home on Tuesday, Mar. 4 against Lebanon Valley at 4 p.m., then head out the rest of the week visiting Pittsburgh and Allegheny on Saturday, Mar. 8 at 1 p.m.