Box Score

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The sixth-ranked West Chester University women's lacrosse team broke away from a 6-6 halftime tie in the second half to defeat Slippery Rock 13-9 in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference game Saturday afternoon.

The loss was the third in row for SRU, which drops to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in PSAC play. All three losses came to teams currently ranked in the top eight in the latest national rankings, with Gannon at No. 8, Mercyhurst at No. 7 and West Chester ranked sixth.

The Golden Rams improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Slippery Rock led twice in the first half and took the Golden Rams to halftime with the score tied at 6-6. West Chester scored the first four goals of the second half to open a 10-6 advantage before the teams traded goals the rest of the way.

Casey Quinn scored five goals, grabbed five draw controls and handed out one assist to lead The Rock. Emma VanDenburg added two goals and Alexis Slutsky and Ariel Knox each scored once.

Lauren Laubach and Morgan Pettit were each credited with one assist to cap the scoring.

Kat Elkins took the loss in goal after allowing 13 goals and recording 12 saves.

West Chester was led by Claire Grimwood with three goals and one assist and Shannon Hayes with one goal and four assists. Julia Walsh, Tori Dugan and Jackie Hoover all added two goals.

Mackenzie O'Keefe started the game in goal for the Golden Rams and allowed six goals while making five saves in the first half. Jess Henderson played the second half and earned the win, allowing three goals and recording five saves.

West Chester finished the game with a 35-24 advantage in total shots and Slippery Rock posted a 13-10 edge in draw controls. Both teams were credited with 21 ground balls.

Coming out the halftime break, Slippery Rock won the draw control but turned the ball over before it get get a shot attempt off. West Chester capitalized when Grimwood scored to break the tie with 27:34 to play in the game.

Again, SRU won the draw control and this time had an attempt at the tying goal, but VamDenburg's shot was saved and West Chester answered with a goal from Hoover at 24:21 that gave the hosts an 8-6 lead.

The Golden Rams added to that lead with 18:09 to play when Dugan found the back of the net to make it 9-6. Hoover pushed the lead out to four with a goal at 11:47.

VanDenburg broke the West Chester stranglehold on the second half scoring when buried a shot off an assist from Laubach with 9:23 to play that cut the lead to 10-7.

The Golden Rams answered, however, with a Grimwood goal with 5:36 to play that pushed the lead back out to four. From there, the teams traded goals up to the finish with West Chester coming away with a 13-9 edge.

The hosts took a 2-0 lead early in the game before Quinn put Slippery Rock on the board and cut the lead to 2-1 five minutes in. Quinn found the net again 30 seconds later to tie the game at 2-2 with 24:34 left in the half.

West Chester answered with the next two goals to take a 4-2 lead with 19:01 to play before the break, but Quinn's third goal of the game and a goal from VanDenburg notched the match back at 4-4 with 11:37 left in the period.

Slippery Rock won the ensuing draw control and took its first lead of the game, 5-4, when Slutsky scored on a free position attempt with 9:48 left in the half. The teams traded goals with WCU answering just over a minute after the Slutsky score and Quinn scoring for the fourth time in the half to put The Rock back on top, 6-5, with just under two minutes remaining before the intermission.

West Chester stole back some momentum right before the break when Dugan scored with four seconds on the clock to send the game to halftime tied at 6-6. That goal was the start of a 5-0 run that included the first four goals of the second half, which put the game out of reach for SRU.

Slippery Rock continues its current road swing with back-to-back games next Friday and Saturday at Millersville and Shippensburg. Game time for the Millersville game Friday is set for 4 p.m., while first draw Saturday at Shippensburg is set for 1 p.m.