SELINSGROVE, PA - The Susquehanna University women's lacrosse team faced another tough test in the early part of their season Saturday, welcoming Messiah to the friendly confines of Sassafras Field. The River Hawks held the lead three times in a back-and-forth first quarter and trailed just 4-3 after the first 15. The Falcons, however, dropped six goals in the second quarter en route to a 10-6 halftime lead and a 19-9 final decision.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- The River Hawks struck first as Abby DiComes connected with 12:58 left in the first on a Waverly Oake-Libow assist to lead 1-0. This was countered by Grace Pettitt's first score of the day just over two minutes later.Â
- Sophia Trively got Susquehanna's next goal to regain the lead 2-1 before Annalise Keitel tied it up again for Messiah.Â
- Makaela Larkin made it 3-2 Susquehanna with her score off an Oake-Libow assit before the Falcons closed out the quarter with goals from Jordan Lewicki and Hayley Lettinga to go up 4-3 after one.
- Keitel and Lettinga's first-quarter scores came on player-up opportunities.Â
- Messiah then made its move in the second quarter with three straight goals to open the period to go up 7-3. Abby Andrus took matters in its own hands by scoring the River Hawks' next two goals, both from Oake-Libow to cut it down to 7-5.Â
- Another Messiah player-up goal was had by Hannah Gawne to go up 8-5 before Kieran Spears offered her first career goal to cut the deficit to 8-6.
- The Falcons, however, reeled off two goals in the final minute of the first half from Jordan Lewicki and Grace Pettitt for a 10-6 halftime advantage.Â
- Spears opened the second half with a Susquehanna goal to make it 10-7, only for Messiah to score the next four goals and five of the next six for a 14-8 lead through three. Oake-Libow accounted for the River Hawks' lone goal in this strethc.Â
- The Falcons again scored four straight to open the fourth quarter to bounce their lead up to 19-8, with Trively scoring for Susquehanna with four minutes and change left.Â
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Andrus notched her third straight two-goal game to start the season, while growing her career scoring numbers to 103 goals.Â
- Trively and Spears each had two goals, while Oake-Libow finished with a five-point day on one goal and four assists. Trively also had three ground balls.Â
- Larkin and DiComes each had one goal and one assist for a two-point day.Â
- Aerin O'Brien gathered eight saves in nearly 52 minutes of work, while Maggie Patterson made her career debut with three saves in eight minutes of action.Â
- Messiah led 37-20 in shots and 30-14 in shots on goal. The Falcons had three free position chances, connecting on one as the other two were thwarted away by O'Brien.Â
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- Susquehanna takes its show on the road for the next three games. The first is a relatively local trip up to Misericordia for a Friday afternoon meeting with the Cougars at 4 p.m.
- The River Hawks' next two games finds them in Clearwater, Fla. for their spring break trip. Their first game down there is Clark on Tuesday, Mar. 3 at 12 p.m., then Roanoke on Thursday, Mar. 5 at 9:30 a.m.
