SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Wilkes University women's lacrosse team suffered their second loss in conference play Wednesday afternoon, falling to Susquehanna University 20-6 at Sassafras Field.

Wilkes falls to 8-2 on the year (0-2 Landmark) while the River Hawks improves to 5-5 overall (0-2 Landmark).

Taylor Sparks (Monroeville, NJ/Woodstown) scored the first Colonel goal of the day, tying the game at one after the helper from Nina-Lily Veale (Franklin, TN/Franklin) at 10:59. Two more River Hawk goals from Jessica Russo put the hosts back on top, before Karinne Podwika's (Duryea, PA/Pittston Area Senior) goal at 6:41 made it a 3-2 game at the end of the first quarter.

The Colonels were then held scoreless in the second and third quarters, as the River Hawks raced out to a 19-2 lead. Morgan Hettesheimer's (Monroe Twp., PA/Tunkhannock Area) man-up goal at 13:41 in the fourth quarter put Wilkes back on the board, followed by another pair of goals by Podwika and Sparks to make it a 19-5 game.

Emily Jackson (Wyoming, PA/Wyoming Area) scored the game's final goal at 1:27, but the Colonels fell 20-6 at the final whistle.

Podwika led the Colonels with three points on the day and two caused turnovers, matching Sparks with a team-high two goals as well. Sparks led the team with five ground balls, while Madyson Martinez (Owasso, OK/Owasso) led all players in draw controls with nine. In goal, Davyn Bonvie (Wyoming, PA/Dallas) made 10 saves.

Russo led Susquehanna with seven goals, while Maggie McDermott held team-highs in ground balls and caused turnovers with three each. Aerin O'Brien picked up the win in goal making seven saves in 45 minutes of play.

Wilkes returns home to Schmidt Stadium for their next contest against Catholic University on Saturday, March 28^th at 1:00 p.m.