ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team dropped its third straight game by a margin of three goals or less with a 14-11 defeat on the road at Gannon University Tuesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action from McConnell Family Stadium.
 
The Rock led for much of the opening half before Gannon scored with 34 seconds left in the period to take an 8-7 lead into halftime. The teams traded goals to open the second half until the score was tied at 9-9 with 25:42 to play.
 
From there, Gannon put together a 3-0 run to open up the largest lead of the game at 12-9 with 10:57 left to play. Slippery Rock responded with a pair of goals from Jordan Chan and Jasey Sanders to cut it to 12-11 with 6:56 to go, but Gannon closed the door with two late goals to hold on for the 14-11 win.
 
Slippery Rock saw its season records drop to 7-6 overall and 3-5 in PSAC games with the loss, which was the first this season to a team not currently ranked in the top 20 in the national rankings. Gannon improves to 6-8 overall and 3-6 in the PSAC with the victory.
 
The Rock finished the game with advantages of 35-27 in total shots and 15-12 in draw controls, while Gannon posted a 20-15 edge in ground balls.
 
The story of the game was Kat Martinelli in the Gannon net. She turned away 16 Slippery Rock shots, including six free position attempts, to preserve the victory for the Golden Knights.
 
Jordan Wagner was solid in net for The Rock on the other end of the field, recording 12 saves in the loss. It marked her third highest save total on the season.
 
Erin Wilcox paced the Slippery Rock attack with a hat trick, marking the ninth game this season she has scored at least three goals. She also pushed her current goal-scoring streak out to 13 games and has scored at least two goals in 12 games this season.
 
Kaytlin Callaghan added two goals and one assist to bring her career totals to 119 goals and 175 points. She is now four goals shy of tying for the fifth most career goals in school history and five points back of tying for second on the all-time scoring ledger.
 
Chynna Chan scored two goals push her current goal-scoring streak out to eight games. Jasey Sanders also found the back of the net twice. Jordan Chan and Ally Culhane each scored one goal and Anna-Marie Warrington handed out one assist to cap the point scorers. Tia Torchia finished with a team-high six draw controls and four ground balls.
 
Gannon was led by Leilani King with nine points on five goals and four assists. Kierstyn Haight added five goals and Ashley Mozingo scored two goals.
 
Tuesday's game was the third straight loss for Slippery Rock by three goals or less after the team dropped a pair of one-goal games against nationally ranked opponents last week with a 12-11 loss to No. 19 Indiana (Pa.) and an 11-10 loss at No. 12 Lock Haven.
 
The Rock will look to get back into the win column when Millersville visits Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Saturday for a 1 p.m. first draw.