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Field Hockey

#8 Rock travels to #3 IUP Sunday

The eighth-ranked Slippery Rock University field hockey team finishes its regular season schedule on the road at third-ranked Indiana Sunday.

SRU Stats  |  IUP Stats  |  Live Statistics

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Slippery Rock University field hockey team plays its last regular season game this weekend when it travels to face Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division rival, Indiana. Game time is set for noon, Sunday.

Live Coverage: The IUP sports information department will provide a live statistics feed of the game at the link posted above.

Playoff Picture: Both teams have clinched a playoff spot in the PSAC tournament and will likely face each other as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds. Slippery Rock is a lock as the No. 3 seed and will travel to either Indiana or Shippensburg. As it stands going into the weekend, IUP is the No. 2 seed (7-2 PSAC-West) and Shippensburg is the No. 1 seed (8-1 PSAC-West).

Rankings: The Rock moved up one place to No. 8 in this week's NCAA Division II national rankings released Tuesday by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. This marks the highest ranking in school history and SRU has now been ranked in the top-10 for a record five consecutive weeks.

IUP comes in at No. 3 in the NFHCA released Tuesday and has been ranked in the top-10 all season long.

Scouting The Rock: SRU enters its last match of the season with an overall record of 8-8 and is 5-4 in the PSAC-West. The Rock is coming off a 2-1 win against Mansfield at home Wednesday to clinch a playoff spot for the second straight year.

Allison Shade leads the team with seven goals and one assist, while Kaitlin McGinnis has five goals. Ally Banks has added three goals and six assits, Lindsay Brown has four goals and two assists and Kelsey Gustafson has three goals and three assists. Gabrielle Malishchak has two goals, three assists and a team-high three defensive saves to round out the top performers.

Goalkeeper Courtney Lee has started every game in goal for SRU and is 8-8 with one shutout. She has allowed 22 goals for a 1.40 goals against average and has made 94 saves for a .810 save percentage.

Scouting the Crimson Hawks: Indiana enters Sunday's game with a 12-4 overall record and is 7-2 in PSAC-West action. The Crimson Hawks are coming off a loss Wednesday against Seton Hill, 4-3.

Nicole Bruce leads the team with 14 goals and 10 assists, while Anouk Sickman has nine goals and four assists. Brielle Mackey (4 goals, 4 assists), Paige Mosner (4 goals, 1 assist), Alicia Straining (4 goals), and Ashley Mosner (4 goals) round out the top scorers for the Crimson Hawks.

Sarah Lemieux and Brittany Varacallo each have seen time in goal this year with Lemieux seeing the most with 12 starts. She has allowed 23 goals for a 3.30 goals against average and has made 61 saves for a .726 save percentage for a 6-4 record. Varacallo has appeared in 11 games making three starts and is 6-0. She has allowed 10 goals for a 1.98 goals against average and has 18 saves for a .643 save percentage.

Series: Indiana holds a 31-16-1 advantage in the all-time series.

Last Meeting: Earlier this season, Slippery Rock fell at home, 2-1 to the Crimson Hawks. SRU's Gina Smarelli tallied her first goal of the season in the first half but The Rock couldn't hold off IUP as Anouk Sickman scored two goals in the second half to steal the victory away from Slippery Rock.

Head Coaches: Julie Swiney is in her third season at the helm for SRU. She has led The Rock to back-to-back six-win seasons and their first PSAC playoff appearance since 1987 a year ago. Swiney joined Slippery Rock after serving four years as American International's head coach from 2006-2009. A 2003 graduate of The College of William and Mary, Swiney was a three-year starter for the Tribe.

Gary Agard is in this third season at IUP. Last year, He guided the Crimson Hawks to a 12-7 record and a berth in the PSAC semifinals for the first time since 2008. Prior to Indiana, Agard spent eight seasons as an assistant coach for Bloomsburg and helped the Huskies to a 175-16 record during that time. The Trinidad and Tobago native graduated from Brooklyn College in 1996.







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