SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team continued its storybook start to the season with a 12-10 win over East Stroudsburg University Sunday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The win improves SRU to 6-0 for the first time in program history and keeps The Rock in first place in the PSAC with a 3-0 conference record. ESU entered the game with only one loss on the year, which came Friday by one goal against No. 4 LIU Post. The Warriors drop to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in league games.
 
Slippery Rock is now the only undefeated team in the PSAC and the only 3-0 team in the conference standings. The only other PSAC team without a league loss is Indiana (Pa.), which is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in PSAC games.
 
Sunday's game was a tightly contested battle from the opening whistle with neither team ever being able to gain more than a two-goal advantage. The teams traded goals to open the game and traded two-goal stretches early until ESU led 5-4 with 10:18 to play in the first half. From there, SRU put together a 3-0 run to end the half with a 7-5 lead.
 
The Rock managed a 13-8 edge in shots in the opening period, but were 8-of-13 on clear attempts in the first 30 minutes.
 
That trend would get worse early in the second half when three straight SRU turnovers led to goals for the Warriors, which put ESU up 8-7 with 24:47 to play.
 
After a timeout, Slippery Rock responded with its own three-goal run to regain a two-goal lead at 10-8 with 11:40 to play.
 
ESU answered again with a goal just 12 seconds later to make it 10-9 with 11:28 to play. The Warriors threatened multiple times to tie the game over the next eight minutes, including a stretch where SRU turned the ball over in the defensive zone on four straight clear attempts. All four resulted in quality scoring chances for the Warriors, but Rock goalie Emily Bitka came up with saves on all four attempts.
 
East Stroudsburg would eventually find the tying goal with 2:44 to play on a breakaway from Hana Cicerelle that evened the game at 10-10.

The Rock won the next draw control and went ahead for good when Tia Torchia scored on a free position shot with 1:14 to play.
 
ESU had one more chance after winning the ensuing draw control, but Danie Porath forced a turnover in front of the SRU goal and came up with the ground ball. Cailtynn Palladino put a cap on the game when she scored her third goal of the day with just four seconds to play.
 
Palladino finished with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. She was one of three Rock players to score a hat trick as Torchia also scored three goals and handed out one assist and Bre Vodde scored three goals.
 
Brittany Brewer added two goals, Ally Culhane handed out two assists and Lisa Casagrande scored one goal to account for the remaining points for The Rock.
 
Porath put together one of her best games in an SRU uniform to pace the defense with four caused turnovers and five ground balls. Tori Penders also came up with five ground balls and Raelyn Waite caused two turnovers.
 
Bitka may have stolen the game for SRU with her performance in the second half after ESU posted a 14-10 advantage in shots over the final 30 minutes. She made eight saves in the second period and finished the game with 10 saves, four caused turnovers and seven ground balls to improve to 6-0 in her first season at SRU.
 
ESU was led by TJ Jefferis with two goals and two assists, Lauren Green with one goal and two assists and Chessie Rahmer with two goals. Tatyanna Petteway took the loss in goal after recording eight saves.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with advantages of 23-22 in total shots and 28-19 in ground balls, but struggled on the clear and went just 16-of-28 in clear attempts. ESU posted advantages of 14-10 in draw controls and 14-13 in caused turnovers. The Warriors were much cleaner on the clear, going 11-of-13 in the game, but turned the ball over 25 times with 23 of those not coming on clear attempts.
 
Sunday's game kicked off a rigorous stretch that will see SRU play six games in a span of 14 days. The Rock will pause from PSAC action for a non-conference game Tuesday at 4 p.m. at West Virginia Wesleyan. SRU will then visit Bloomsburg next Saturday before returning home for three games in a span of four days from April 5-8.
 

  
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