Assumption Live Stats  |  American International Live Stats


A brief preview of The Rock's season-opening games is available below.

Coaches: Julie Swiney enters her third season at the helm for SRU. She has led The Rock to back-to-back six-win seasons and their first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoff appearance since 1987. She'll return to face her previous team Sunday as Swiney coached American International for four seasons from 2006-09.

Assumption's head coach Annie Lahey is in her second year for the Greyhounds. She comes to Assumption from Wachusett Regional High School where she served as the program's varsity head coach from 2005-2011. Lahey is a 2002 graduate of Holy Cross, earning a bachelor's degree in religious studies. She also earned her master's degree in theological studies in 2004 at Vanderbilt. 

Chrissy Needham is the tenth head coach in AIC program history and is in her first season after just taking over in February. Before arriving at AIC, Needham was the head coach at Division III Kenyon College (Ohio) for two years where she led the team to a 17-22 overall record during that span. She also was the assistant field hockey coach at Division I UMass from 2007-09 where she helped the team to two Atlantic-10 titles and NCAA tournament berths in 2007 and 2008. She earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Connecticut in 2001 and her master's in education from UConn in 2002.

Series: Assumption: This will be the first match ever between the two teams.

American International: SRU is 1-1 all time vs. the Yellow Jackets. Their last meeting came a year ago when AIC won 3-0 in Slippery Rock.

Scouting The Rock: Slippery Rock welcomes back 19 players from last season's roster but only six upperclassmen. Looking to lead the team this year will be senior, and three time All-PSAC performer, Gabrielle Malishchak. She had two game-winning goals last season and brings valuable experience to a young team. Grace Bathhurst and Ally Banks started in 18 games and 19 games respectively a year ago and add to the senior leadership. The Rock will also return two sophomore goalies, Courtney Lee and Alexandra Kirsch, from last season and both saw significant minutes as freshmen. Slippery Rock was picked to finish in third-place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division Preseason Coaches poll.

Scouting the Greyhounds: Assumption returns 17 players from last year's squad, including 11 that have starting experience. The Greyhounds finished the 2011 season 1-14 overall and look to bounce back in 2012. Leading the way for The Greyhounds are seniors Britt Allen and Kathy Moffett. Allen was second on the team in points and scored two goals while Kathy Moffett started in all 15 games a season ago. Team leader in shots and points last year, Paige Anderson, returns as a sophomore and hopes to have another solid season. Starting junior goalie Heather Philbrick also returns.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets: American International finished last season 12-9, including a 7-1 record in front of its home fans. The Yellow Jackets welcome back five starters and nine players total. All nine saw significant minutes and AIC will return its top three goal scorers and point leaders from a year ago. Lisa Duckles (9 goals, 23 points), Jenna Masionis (8g, 22pts) and Mackenzie Kewley (9g, 19pts) look to lead the way again this season. Defender Amanda Johannes started every game as a freshman and was second on the team in defensive saves. The team loses last year's senior starting goalkeeper Kim Steiner, who started all 21 games. This season, the team will look to junior Kori Huffman to be its stopper. AIC was picked to finish fifth in the Northeast-10 Preseason Coaches Poll.

Next Up: Slippery Rock will open the home schedule when it welcomes Mercy College Sept. 7 for a 6 p.m. non-conference game at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Two days later, The Rock will entertain Lindenwood in a noon match Sept. 9.