MADISON, NJ - Susquehanna made just its third home appearance of the spring Saturday against Drew in their Landmark Conference opener. Their native Sassafras Field proved to offer the River Hawks plenty of comfort as they took a 14-4 win over the Rangers to open its conference season at 1-0.

Junior Abby Andrus lit up the scoreboard with a five-goal day, while senior Liv Owen also had a five-point afternoon with two goals and three assists. She now has 99 assists for her career, one away from the century mark and tying Caroline Chase for number-one all-time in school history. Andrus is also in hot pursuit of the century mark in career points, now with 90 on 81 goals and nine assists. Other noisemakers for SU on the day were Emma Keller with three assists, Sophia Trively and Allie Kutler each with two goals, as well as one goal apiece from Makaela Larkin, Waverly Oake-Libow, and Sloane Coddington, with the latter notching her first goal of her career. Jessica Russo added one assist.

Only once was the game tied. After Andrus opened the scoring with a free-position goal, Drew answered right back when Aubrey Welch scored to make it 1-1. From then on the River Hawks got red hot, closing out the first quarter with five unanswered to lead 6-1. This came on the heels of another goal by Andrus, along with goals from Coddington, Kutler, Trively, and Owen. It didn't stop there to start the second quarter as Susquehanna tacked on two more for its largest lead of the game to date, courtesy of Trively and Andrus, for the only two goals of the quarter as the River Hawks led at the half, 8-1. Drew found a spark in the third quarter, netting three of the first four goals of the period to cut SU's lead down to 9-4. Andrus offered up Susquehanna's only goal in this stretch, then closed out the third quarter with her fifth and final goal of the day for a 10-4 lead entering the fourth. The fourth-quarter scoring was paced by Owen, Kutler, Larkin, and Oake-Libow. 

Junior goalie Aerin O'Brien chalked up 11 saves, denying all six of the Rangers' free position shots. The River Hawks, meanwhile, connected on 6-of-7 free position chances. Susquehanna outshot Drew 30-26, including 17-12 in shots on goal. On the defensive front the River Hawks caused 11 of Drew's 18 turnovers and scooped 25 ground balls. Kelleher helped in this cause with four grounders and two caused turnovers. SU won 14 draw controls on 21 matchups, led by ten from Kutler, three from Kelleher, and one from Larkin.

Susquehanna once again takes it show on the road for three straight, starting with a non-conference at Alvernia Tuesday at 6 p.m., then back to Landmark play at Moravian Saturday, Mar. 29 and at Catholic Wednesday, April 2. They are back home Saturday, April 5 hosting Lycoming.