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INDIANA, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Slippery Rock University field hockey team saw its storybook season come to an end Tuesday night with a 1-0 loss at No. 4 Indiana (Pa.) in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference quarterfinals.
Both teams were near evenly matched throughout the entire game, but a penalty stroke awarded to Indiana midway through the second half proved to be the difference.
Alicia Straining was awarded a penalty stroke in the 51st minute and she scored into the upper left mesh for the game's lone goal. High drama came in the final seconds of the game when Slippery Rock was awarded a penalty stroke as time expired. With no time on the clock,
Ally Banks' shot was kicked away by Brittany Varacallo to seal the win.
Slippery Rock finishes the year with an overall record of 8-10, while Indiana improves to 14-4 and will advance to the PSAC semifinals to play No. 2 West Chester Friday night.
The eight wins for Slippery Rock marks the most for any Rock team since 1998 and marks just the fourth time in the program's history that it won eight games. SRU also had a sure win erased by lightning earlier this year after it was leading 4-0 in the first half against Mercy.
Indiana finished the match with advantages of 13-6 in total shots, 9-5 in shots on goal and 7-4 in penalty corners. All of the advantages came in the second half after both teams were even with four shots and three corners in the opening period.
Courtney Lee made five saves in the game for Slippery Rock, while
Baylee Childress made two defensive saves and
Gabrielle Malishchak made one.
Sarah Lemieux played the first half in goal for IUP and made three saves. Varacallo played the second half and made two saves, including the penalty stroke, to earn the win.
Tuesday's game marked the final game in the careers of seniors Banks, Malishchak and
Grace Bathurst, who will be remembered for leading the remarkable turnaround of the program that saw Slippery Rock turn into a national contender.
