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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Slippery Rock University field hockey team clinched its second consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoff berth with a 2-1 win over Mansfield Wednesday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
The win, coupled with a Mercyhurst loss to No. 1 Shippensburg Wednesday, gives Slippery Rock the No. 3 seed in the PSAC-West regardless of the outcomes of this weekend's final regular season matches.
Tuesday's win improved Slippery Rock to 8-8 overall and 5-4 in PSAC play. The eight wins are the most since the 1998 team finished with eight wins and marks just the fourth time in program history that SRU has won at least eight games in a season.
Slippery Rock got early first half goals from
Lindsay Brown and
Rebecca Williams to go up 2-0 in the first 15 minutes and those would prove to be the only tallies needed.
Rock keeper
Courtney Lee was outstanding in the early part of the second half, withstanding a barrage of shots and corner attempts from Mansfield. She made five saves in the first 12 minutes of the second period as the Mountaineers were awarded five corners in that stretch.
The Mountaineers missed on three straight breakaway chances with just under 15 minutes to play, with Lee making all three saves, but finally broke through on the ensuing penalty corner to make it 2-1 with just over 14 minutes to play. From there, The Rock defense stood its ground and Lee kept the ball out of the cage to preserve the win.
Lee finished with a career-high 12 saves to earn the win. Jamie Twist was credited with four saves in the loss for the Mounties.
Mansfield finished the game with advantages of 20-12 in total shots, 13-7 in shots on goal and 14-5 in penalty corners.
Slippery Rock opened the game's scoring in the 13th minute when Brown tapped the ball into an empty cage off a double assist from
Ally Banks and
Gabrielle Malishchak for her fourth goal of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Williams stole the ball deep in the offensive zone and fired a hard shot inside the near post for her third goal of the year to make it 2-0 at the 13:39 mark.
From there, both teams had chances to close out the first half, but Lee and Twist withstood the efforts. SRU finished the period with a 6-5 edge in shots and Mansfield posted a 5-2 advantage in corners.
The Mountaineers came out firing in the second half and controlled possession for much of the period, finishing with advantages of 15-6 in shots and 9-3 in corners.
Taryn Schawillie netted her 15th goal of the season at the 56:09 mark off an assist from Kristyn Grunza to account for the final goal of the game.
Slippery Rock will travel to No. 3 Indiana (Pa.) Sunday for a noon match to end the regular season and will travel to the No. 2 seed in the PSAC-West for the opening round of the playoffs next week. The No. 2 seed will either be Shippensburg or Indiana, depending on the results of this weekend's games.
