Recap courtesy of Sports Information Intern, Vin Rinella
SELINSGROVE, Pa. -- The University of Scranton women's lacrosse team (12-3, 7-1 Landmark) battled throughout the game, but fell short in a 9-8 overtime loss to Susquehanna (11-5, 5-3) on Saturday afternoon at Sassafras Multipurpose Field in Selinsgrove.
In overtime, the River Hawks won the opening draw control, and it took them just 45 seconds to score the game winning goal from Hannah McNamara, handing the Royals their first Landmark Conference loss of the season while also snapping their nine-game winning streak.
Susquehanna had tied the game at eight with 7:55 to play in the fourth quarter and the two teams continued to battle over a scoreless seven plus minutes before heading to overtime.
Despite the loss, Scranton continues to sit atop the Landmark Conference standings and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Catholic with one conference game remaining.
The River Hawks got the scoring started three minutes into the game with a free position goal at the 11:56 mark. The Royals would answer just eleven seconds later when senior Devyn Tanajewski (Ringwood, N.J. / Lakeland Regional) won the draw control and took it straight to the net and scored, evening things up at 1-1. To end the first quarter, junior Molly McCarren (Suffern, N.Y. / Suffern) scored her 20th goal of the season, putting the Royals in front for the first time in the contest.
Freshman Jillian Lopez (Sayville, N.Y. / St. Anthony's) opened the scoring in the second quarter, finding the back of the net three minutes in and giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. Susquehanna would answer two minutes later with a goal that began a three-goal run for the home team, giving them a 4-3 advantage. Before the end of the quarter, Scranton responded, this time it was freshman Eileen Hewitt (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown East) who scored on a free position shot to tie things up going into halftime.
The River Hawks scored twice in the opening minutes of the third half, jumping out to a 6-4 lead. Junior Grace Lane (Long Beach, N.Y. / Sacred Heart Academy) responded with her first goal of the game to bring the Royals within one, and then senior Erin Reich (Rockville Centre, N.Y. / South Side) scored two goals in under a minute to give the Royals a 7-6 edge for the time being.
With one minute left in the third quarter, Susquehanna evened the score at seven apiece, but Reich scored her third goal of the game with seven seconds left in the stanza to put the Scranton back in front with a quarter left to play.
Abby Andrus' game-tying tally for Susquehanna proved to be the lone goal of the fourth quarter.
Reich led the team with her three goals, a mark she has now hit in back-to-back games, and Tanajewski led the team with her two draw control wins while also scoring a goal and picking up two ground balls. Junior Lauren Boldis (Merrick, N.Y. / Sanford H. Calhoun) made a season-high fourteen saves for the Royals in the setback.
The University of Scranton women's lacrosse team is back in action Sunday when they welcome in No. 12 Stevens, with action set to begin at 2:00 pm at Weiss Field in Scranton.
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--ROYALS--
