Live Stats (SRU vs. AIC)  I  2013 SRU Stats  I  2013 AIC Stats  I  2013 BU Stats

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Slippery Rock University field hockey team will look to begin its 2014 season with back-to-back road wins this weekend. Standing in the way are American International College (Saturday at 2 p.m.) and Bellarmine University (Sunday at 12 p.m.).
 
Live Coverage: The American International sports information office will provide live statistics link above. Live updates will also be available via the official SRU Athletics Twitter page (@Rock_Athletics).
 
2013 Records: Slippery Rock is coming off a 6-12 season in 2013, good for 9^th in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The Rock was picked to finish 8^th in the PSAC this fall.
 
American International is coming off an 8-10 season and 8^th place finish in the Northeast-10 last season. The Yellow Jackets were selected to finish 8^th in the NE-10 again this season.
 
Bellarmine finished the 2013 season at 9-10 overall. The Knights, formerly an independent program, is competing in the recently established Division II Eastern College Athletic Conference Field Hockey League this fall.
 
Scouting The Rock: The 2014 roster welcomes back six of its top seven point scorers from last season, including All-PSAC midfielder and defender, Kelsey Gustafson. In total, Slippery Rock returns five seniors, eight players who scored at least one point last fall and 13 players that made at least 10 appearances.
 
Redshirt-senior Allison Shade (3 g, 3 a), junior Courtney Bradshaw (2 g, 1 a) and sophomores Megan McKay (5 g) and Michelle Couch (2 g, 1 a), all scored multiple goals for The Rock last season and look to lead Slippery Rock in 2014.
 
Seniors Gustafson (5 g, 3 a, 6 ds) and Kaili Simmons (1 a) started every game last fall and will lead a group of midfielders flooded with experience. Joining the seniors are redshirt-junior Baylee Childress (8 ds) and sophomore Renee Rosenblum (2 g, 2 a), who also started every game for SRU last season.
 
One of the biggest challenges facing The Rock will be the defensive unit. The lone starter returning along the back line is junior Lauren Shideler (2 ds). Senior Anna Swearingen appeared in 10 games last season and will look to lead a young group in her final season.
 
SRU will look to improve on last season's road record, where it went just 1-6 away from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
Slippery Rock Netminders: Returning between the posts for SRU is junior goalkeeper Carlee DuMars, who went 4-8 last season with a 2.48 goals against average and 69.5% save percentage. Joining DuMars is freshman Nicole Bream, a two-time high school all-star and school-record holder in career shutouts.
 
Scouting the Yellow Jackets: The American International College field hockey team will try to continue their ascent after improving by five wins last season over the prior year's total. Eleven returning players will be joined by eight freshmen and two veteran additions to the roster.
 
The Yellow Jackets will lean heavily on Jenna Masionis, who scored 15 goals on her way to a 1^st-Team All-NE-10 selection last fall. Junior Ainslee Penfield also returns and looks to build upon last fall when she registered 10 points.
 
American International went 2-5 at home in 2013.
 
Yellow Jacket Netminders: First-year goalkeeper, Bryony Parker, will take over between the posts for American International.
 
Scouting the Knights: Bellarmine is tasked with replacing eight players to graduation, including the entire starting back line and the team's leading goal scorer. However, the Knights return plenty of firepower with Alexis Van Wallaghen (7g, 8a), Alex Ojeda (8g, 5a) and Meghan Williams (3g, 5a).
 
The Knights welcome a class of 10 freshmen and three transfers that figure to make an immediate impact on the Bellarmine field hockey program.
 
Bellarmine went 7-6 away from its home stadium in 2013.
 
Knights Netminders: University of Louisville transfer, Lara Williams, appears to have won the starting job in the cage for Bellarmine, while Alex Moro and Sara Nicolas bring game experience in goal and give the coaching staff plenty of options.
 
Head Coaches: Julie Swiney, the 2012 PSAC-West Coach of the Year, enters her fifth season at the helm for Slippery Rock. She has led The Rock to four consecutive six-win seasons since 2010, including the fourth best record in school history with eight wins in 2012. After not reaching the PSAC playoffs since 1987, Swiney led The Rock to its first playoff berth in 2011 and again in 2012. Before coming to Slippery Rock, Swiney served 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 in field hockey for the Tribe. She led the Tribe to a Top-20 national ranking in each of her three seasons and a pair of appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament.
 
Chrissy Needham is entering her third season as head coach of American International College. After a disappointing 3-15 season in her first year, she bounced back to guide the Yellow Jackets to an 8-10 record last fall. Before arriving at AIC, Needham was the head coach at Division III Kenyon College (Ohio) for two years, leading the team to a 17-22 overall record during that span. She was also 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.
 
Mark Blankenbaker is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Bellarmine field hockey program. In his first year as the Knights head coach, he guided Bellarmine to a 13-4 overall record that included a win over No. 9 Millersville. Prior to being named head coach, Blankenbaker spent seven years as an assistant under former Bellarmine head coach, Don Hubbuch.
 
Series:
 
American International: The Yellow Jackets evened the all-time series at 2-2 with a 3-2 overtime victory against The Rock last fall (box score).
 
Bellarmine: SRU is 2-8 against the Knights all-time. The teams have not met since Bellarmine defeated The Rock 4-2 in 2010 (box score).
 
Next Up: Slippery Rock jumps right into the PSAC schedule with its home opener Sept. 10 against Seton Hill. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.