Skip To Main Content

Slippery Rock University Athletics

THE OFFICIAL ATHLETICS WEBSITE OF SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY
SLIPPERY ROCK ATHLETICS
Now Loading: Women's Soccer

Women's Soccer

Women's Semifinal Preview: Rock vs. ESU Saturday

Slippery Rock will play in the PSAC semifinals for the third consecutive season when it meets East Stroudsburg Saturday at California (Pa.) with a trip to the league title game on the line.

Live Stats  |  Tournament Homepage  |  SRU Stats  |  ESU Stats

Allison Harbart
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team will face East Stroudsburg University Saturday in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference semifinals at 1:30 p.m. at California University (Pa.).

Live Coverage: The California sports information office will provide a live statistics feed for the game at the link above. The SRU sports information office will provide live updates through the official Rock Athletics Twitter page (@Rock_Athletics).

Rankings: Saturday's game is crucial to both team's hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. East Stroudsburg was ranked No. 6 in this week's Atlantic Regional rankings and Slippery Rock was ranked No. 7. Only the top six teams in the final ranking will earn a bid, but the WIVIAC tournament champion gets an automatic bid, which will knock one of the PSAC teams out. The top ranked WVIAC team is Alderson-Broaddus at No. 9 in the region. Slippery Rock gained points by defeating regional No. 1 West Chester in the opening round of the playoffs, while East Stroudsburg recorded a tie against regional No. 3 Gannon in the opening round.

Playoff Picture: Top seed California defeated No. 8 seed Indiana 1-0 in the opening round to earn hosting rights. No. 7 seed Slippery Rock upset No. 2 seed West Chester, 2-1. No. 6 seed East Stroudsburg advanced past No. 3 seed Gannon in a shootout after the teams played to a scoreless tie. No. 4 seed Edinboro defeated No. 5 seed Kutztown 2-0.

The winner of the SRU-ESU semifinal game will play the winner of the Cal-Edinboro game in the title game Sunday at noon at California.

Rock in the Playoffs: Slippery Rock is making its 10 trip to the PSAC playoffs and its third consecutive trip to the semifinals. Last season, The Rock defeated West Chester in the opening round before falling to Kutztown in the semifinals. Slippery Rock owns two conference titles, the most recent coming in 2005 over Kutztown, and the first coming in 2003 over Lock Haven.

Warriors in the Playoffs: East Stroudsburg is making its first playoff appearance since 2009 and its fourth in six seasons under head coach Rob Berkowitz. ESU lost in the semifinals in each of its most recent appearances in 2007 and 208. The Warriors own two PSAC titles, one in 1994 and the other in 1997.

Scouting The Rock: Slippery Rock enters the game with an overall record of 11-5-2 and is riding a two-game winning streak. The Rock's 11 wins so far gives them their 17th consecutive winning season with 10 or more victories, the eighth-best streak in Division II history.

Slippery Rock is outscoring opponents 37-17 and outshooting the opposition 225-163. Lucy Hannon leads the way with eight goals and six assists, followed by Shelby Ward with seven goals and three assists, including the game-winner over West Chester in the opening round. Stephanie Buckenheimer has three goals and four assists and Cailin Conner has four goals and one assist. Lauren Impey has three goals and three assists and Nicole Krueger has three goals to cap the top scorers.

Dana O'Neill is 11-5-2 with seven shutouts in goal. She has allowed 17 goals for a 0.92 goals against average and made 58 saves for a .773 save percentage.

Scouting the Warriors: East Stroudsburg brings a record of 10-4-5 into the PSAC semifinals and is riding a six match unbeaten streak that includes five wins and a tie.

The Warriors are outscoring opponents 29-18 and outshooting the opposition 283-241. Sammi Jo Hughes leads the team with four goals and five assists, while Cree Julian has added five goals. Courtney Keller and Carly Collins each have four goals and Marissa Spitler has one goal and a team-high six assists to cap the top scorers.

Brittain Wagner has started 18 games in goal and is 10-3-5 with six shutouts. She has allowed 15 goals for a 0.80 goals against average and has made 86 saves for a .851 save percentage.

Head Coaches: Noreen Herlihy is in her 18th season at the helm of the Slippery Rock program. She has led the team to 17 consecutive winning seasons with 10 or more wins and owns a career record of 222-102-26. The 17 consecutive winning seasons rank eighth all-time in Division II history. Herlihy is a 1992 graduate of Mercyhurst College with a bachelor's degree in sports medicine. She also owns a master's degree in sports administration from Slippery Rock.

Rob Berkowitz is in his sixth season as the head coach of the ESU women and his second season as the head coach of the men's team. He has posted a record of 62-41-14 in his time with the women's team. Berkowitz is a 1997 graduate of LIU Southampton College.

Series: Saturday's game will serve as a rubber match, with both teams owning an 8-8-2 record in the all-time series, including a 1-1 tie earlier this season.

Last Time: (Box Score) Slippery Rock and East Stroudsburg played to a 1-1 double overtime tie in East Stroudsburg earlier this season on Oct. 6.

Shelby Ward scored the game's opening goal off a double assist from Lucy Hannon and Izabel Scott in the 16th minute to put SRU up 1-0.

ESU tied the game in the 59th minute when Madeline DeVico scored her first goal of the year off an assist from Sammi Jo Hughes.

Slippery Rock finished the game with advantages of 16-13 in total shots and 8-5 in shots on goal. ESU posted a 4-3 edge in corner kicks.

Dana O'Neill made four saves in goal for SRU, while Brittain Wagner made seven saves in net for ESU.





Print Friendly Version