SELINSGROVE, PA - After a series of wins on the road, including one in Florida, Susquehanna's women's lacrosse team earned their first win of the season at Sassafras Field Wednesday with a 12-2 thumping of non-conference foe Alvernia. The River Hawks scored the first two goals of the game and diffused a quick Golden Wolves run that tied the game at 2-2 with ten unanswered scores to nail down the win. Susquehanna completes its non-conference season at 3-5 as they enter their Landmark Conference opener at Elizabethtown this Saturday.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- Sophia Trively and Sloane Coddington wasted no time with the game's first two goals for a 2-0 lead with 12:56 to go in the first.
- Alvernia answered right back to tie the game at 2-2, the first from Grace Weissenberger with 9:54 left in the first and Makenna Thomas tying it up with 5:57 remaining in the quarter.
- After a brief layoff the River Hawks' offense was back in business and in control as Abby DiComes notched the first of her three goals on the day to give Susquehanna the lead back up 3-2 to end the first quarter.
- Susquehanna regained the momentum with four second-quarter goals as DiComes had two of these scores sandwiched around goals by Jessica Russo and Coddington.
- The defense hunkered down to keep Alvernia off the scoreboard as goalie Aerin O'Brien recorded eight saves on the afternoon, as well as the River Hawks forcing the Golden Wolves into 20 turnovers and a few possession clock violations.
- Makaela Larkin opened the second-half scoring with a pair of free position goals to go up 9-2 before Alena Malinowski had her first goal at Sassafras Field before the end of the quarter thanks to a Waverly Oake-Libow assist.
- Oake-Libow added a goal of her own in the fourth quarter from a DiComes assist to lead 11-2. With just under 90 seconds remaining, Trively scored her second goal of the day to put the running clock in motion for the remainder of the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- O'Brien's eight saves puts her closer to the 500 career save mark with 491, currently fourth all-time among Susquehanna goalies.
- Trively recorded a game-high five points on two goals and three assists, while DiComes and Oake-Libow each had four points. DiComes had three goals and one assist, while Oake-Libow had vice versa as the latter now has 25 points on four goals and 21 assists.
- Larkin and Coddington each delivered two goals.
- Susquehanna outshot Alvernia 38-13 and 20-9 in shots on goal. The River Hawks were fruitful on 3-of-4 free positions, while the Golden Wolves were 1-of-2.
- The River Hawks led 9-7 in draw controls as Kimberly Nagengast had five of them. Kieran Spears added two, while Larkin and Coddington had one apiece.
- Nagengast and Lizzy Povalski stepped up defensively with three caused turnovers each.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- Susquehanna heads to Elizabethtown on Saturday, Mar. 21 at 1 p.m. to open up Landmark Conference play against the Blue Jays.
- They will return home next Wednesday to take on Wilkes University at 5 p.m.
