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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team jumped out to a 5-1 lead and held on to defeat East Stroudsburg University 13-10 Saturday afternoon in a crucial Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference match at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The win improves Slippery Rock to 5-7 overall and 3-4 in PSAC games, effectively keeping The Rock's playoff hopes alive. East Stroudsburg saw its playoff hopes take a serious hit and drops to 6-5 overall and 2-5 in PSAC games with the loss. The top six teams in the PSAC standings will earn a postseason berth. With five games left to play, Slippery Rock is currently tied for seventh place, two games out of the sixth spot.
 
Saturday's game was decided by a strong push from The Rock in each of the two halves. In the first half Slippery Rock scored four unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead. East Stroudsburg rallied back with three straight goals to cut it to 5-4, but Paige Costantino scored a wraparound goal with 4.4 seconds left in the period to send it to halftime with SRU leading 6-4.
 
The Rock then opened the second half with another 4-0 run to take a 10-4 lead with 23:22 to play.
 
East Stroudsburg rallied again, in part thanks to a dominant effort in the draw circle, and scored three straight goals and five of the next six tallies to make it a two-goal game, 11-9 with 13:07 to play.
 
Slippery Rock closed the door with a goal from Erin Wilcox with 7:04 to play and added an insurance tally from Caitlynn Palladino with just over one minute to play to seal the 13-10 win.
 
The Rock got at least two goals from six different players on a balanced scoring day. Palladino led the way with four points on three goals and one assist. Kaytlin Callaghan finished with three points on two goals and one assist.
 
Costantino, Wilcox, Chynna Chan and Danni Wilson all scored two goals to cap the scoring.
 
Jordan Wagner played one of her best games of the season in goal to preserve the win. She recorded 12 saves on 22 shots on goal and also picked up five ground balls.
 
East Stroudsburg was led by four goals from Lauren Green and three goals and one assist from Lauren Nunes. Emily Fitzsimmons took the loss in goal after recording seven saves.
 
The Warriors finished the game with advantages of 30-20 in total shots, 22-20 in shots on goal and 14-10 in draw controls. Slippery Rock managed a 23-20 edge in ground balls. Both teams struggled to clear the defensive zone and finished with six failed clear attempts. ESU was 9-of-15 on the clear and SRU was 14-of-20.
 
Saturday's game was the only home game for Slippery Rock in a stretch of seven games. The Rock were coming off a three-game road swing in which the team went 1-2. SRU will now play its next three games on the road, all next week. First up is a trip to Edinboro Tuesday for a 4 p.m. match, followed by a weekend trip to Millersville Friday at 3 p.m. and Kutztown Saturday at 2 p.m.