SELINSGROVE, PA - Susquehanna and Drew fought hard in a very physical game, but the River Hawks defended their nest once again, defeating the Rangers 12-7 on Saturday evening. After a very close first quarter, Susquehanna blew things open with a five-goal second quarter and soared to a first-round victory from there. With their win they advance in the Landmark Conference tournament and will move on to the semifinals.
Â
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- The weather played into this game, with the rain slowing both offenses down until Drew got on the board first with two goals from Madi Strong to give the Rangers a two goal lead with 9:16 left in the first.
- Susquehanna responded with two goals of their own, from Jessica Russo and Sophia Trively to tie the game and end the first quarter.
- The second quarter was a very physical one, with there being eight total penalties, seven by Drew and one by Susquehanna.
- Susquehanna took full advantage of the numerous penalties by the Rangers and scored three early goals all while playing player-up.Â
- Abby Andrus scored the first man-up goal off of a Russo pass, Sloane Coddington scored a man-up free position goal, and Russo scored off of an Andrus pass to make it 5-2.
- Drew stopped the scoring streak with one of their own to make it 5-3 off of the stick of Aubrey Welch.
- Susquehanna scored two straight man-up goals from Andrus and Makaela Larkin to make it 7-3.
- Drew scored one last goal before the end of the quarter to make it 7-4 at halftime.
- Coddington opened the third quarter with a goal to give the River Hawks a four goal lead with 13:40 left.
- Abby DiComes joined the scoring party for Susquehanna off of a Waverly Oake-Libow pass to make it 9-4.
- Strong scored again for Drew to bring Drew within four again before Maggie McDermott scored and made it 10-5.
- Strong scored her fourth goal of the game with 4:43 left in the third to bring the Rangers within four, and that was the last goal of the quarter.
- After almost seven minutes of no scoring in the fourth Grace Patane scored for Drew to make it 10-7.
- The Rangers made it interesting by getting the ensuing draw control and a free position opportunity to make it a ballgame. But Kristina Lowe's shot sailed high above the crossbar and an evenutal shot clock violation gave the ball back to the River Hawks.Â
- Andrus scored another goal with 5:35 left in the quarter to make it 11-7, where it stayed for the next five minutes.
- Andrus capitalized off of a turnover and made a diving shot to score her fourth goal of the game and end it at 12-7.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Andrus led the River Hawks offense with four goals and one assist for five points. Russo had four points off of two goals and two assists. Oake-Libow led the team with three assists.
- Coddington also had two goals and Trively, Larkin, McDermott, and DiComes also scored.
- Strong led the Rangers offense with four of their seven goals.
- Drew led in shots with 25 to Susquehanna's 22 and both teams had 15 shots on goal.
- The rain played into effect and led to a lot of turnovers, Susquehanna having 28 and Drew 27. Drew had four players with four turnovers and Susquehanna's Larkin led the game with five.
- The game totaled 14 fouls, eight from Drew and six from Susquehanna.
- O'Brien was in goal for most of the game, except when she served a penalty. She had 10 saves and allowed six goals in 57:14. Maggie Paterson played the other few minutes and gave up one goal.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- Susquehanna moves on in the Landmark tournament and travels to the University of Scranton to take on the #13 Royals in the semifinals on Wednesday, April 29. In their previous matchup Scranton defeated the River Hawks 14-7Â on April 18.
