ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team's comeback bid came up short Tuesday night as No. 4 Gannon University survived a late scare to defeat The Rock, 2-1, at McConnell Family Stadium in Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
The loss snaps The Rock's five-match winning streak and drops SRU's record to 6-3 overall and 5-2 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play. Gannon improved to 9-0 on the season overall and 5-2 in league games.
 
Slippery Rock, which received votes in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America top 25 poll, cut Gannon's two-goal lead in half with just over 10 minutes to play, but couldn't find a way to score the equalizer in the game's final moments.
 
Junior defender Sam Thornton led Slippery Rock Tuesday with one goal, her first of the season. Fellow junior defender Ariana Daukss totaled a team-high two shots on goal with the trio of senior midfielder Crysta Ganter, sophomore midfielder Tess Keeley and junior defender Lynn Neef also adding respective shots on goal as well.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Charlotte Elrod stopped a season-high seven shots in the loss.
 
Gannon started out as the aggressors by firing six shots, three of which were on goal, in the opening 20 minutes, but Elrod and the rest of the SRU defense, which has surrendered just seven goals in 2015, withstood the early barrage to maintain the 0-0 score.
 
Gannon finally broke through for the game's first goal in the 23rd minute when Olivia Augustyniak's long shot found the back of The Rock's net. Gannon was back on the attack under five minutes later when Mani Brueckner finished a shot off of a corner kick to put the Golden Knights up 2-0 at the 26:10 mark of the first half.
 
Following the two quick goals, Slippery Rock's defense returned to form to hold Gannon scoreless for the remainder of the game.
 
Coming out of the halftime break Slippery Rock rattled off three shots on goal in the opening 15 minutes and continued to apply pressure to Gannon for the remainder of the half until a GU foul led to a penalty kick being awarded to SRU. Thornton proceeded to convert her free shot into a score and cut Gannon's lead to one goal in the 80th minute.
 
However, the Golden Knights managed to hold on to its 2-1 lead en route to the victory. For the game, Gannon held advantages over The Rock in both shots (15-10) and corners (7-1).
 
Slippery Rock will look to return to its winning ways when it hosts Bloomsburg University 3:30 p.m. Saturday at James Egli Field.