SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team pulled away in the second half for a 13-9 win over Gannon University Tuesday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action from Mihailk-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock improve to 11-3 overall and move up to fourth place in the PSAC standings at 6-3 in league games, just one game back of second place West Chester and Indiana (Pa.), which are tied for second with 7-2 league records. The 11 wins ties the 2011 and 1983 teams for the second most in a single-season in program history and is just one shy of the 2012 team's 12-5 mark that set the school record for wins in a season.

Gannon (3-10, 1-8 PSAC) was resilient early on Tuesday and used a big advantage in the draw circle to stay close in the opening half. At one point, the Golden Knights owned a 7-1 edge in draw controls and used that to run off three straight goals to even the score at 4-4 with just under three minutes left in the first half.
 
Tia Torchia won the next draw control and flew down the field to score unassisted to put The Rock back on top just nine seconds later and SRU would never trail again. Bre Vodde added another goal with 52 seconds left in the half to send it to halftime with The Rock leading 6-4.
 
Gannon cut into the lead early in the second half, but SRU responded with five unanswered goals and a 7-1 run to put the game out of reach. Gannon tallied three goals in the final four minutes against the SRU substitutes after the outcome was decided.  
 
Torchia continued her recent stretch of outstanding play by scoring a career-high five goals to lead the attack. She added four draw controls and four caused turnovers and has now tallied nine goals in her last two games.
 
Vodde and Caitlynn Palladino each added a hat trick and Chynna Chan and Erin Brown both scored one goal to cap the goal scorers. ShyAnne Toomer handed out two assists and Brittany Brewer added one assist to round out the point scorers.
 
Emily Bitka improved to 11-3 in goal after recording four saves in just under 56 minutes in goal. She continues to lead the PSAC with a 7.17 goals against average, which ranks seventh in the nation. Tori Greco allowed the final three goals and made no saves in just over four minutes in net.
 
Gannon was led by Tessa Mitchell with four goals and Leilani King with two goals and one assist. Two of Mitchell's goals came in the final four minutes. SRU held King, the league's leading scorer with 63 points entering the game, to just one point for the first 56 minutes of the game before she added one goal and one assist in the final four minutes. Erin Rotondo also scored two goals and handed out one assist.
 
Charla Tate took the loss in goal after recording four saves and allowing 13 goals.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with advantages of 19-14 in shots and 21-19 in ground balls, while Gannon posted a 14-10 edge in draw controls. Both teams failed on just three clear attempts with The Rock going 16-of-19 and Gannon going 15-of-18.
 
Tuesday's game marked the final regular season home game for Slippery Rock, which will close the year with road games at Millersville, Mercyhurst and Shippensburg. The Rock will travel to Millersville this Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.
 
 
NOTES: SRU is now 11-3, which ties the 2011 and 1983 teams for the second-most wins in a single-season in program history … SRU is still the only team in the league with a win over PSAC leading East Stroudsburg (8-1), which could become a key factor in any tiebreaker scenarios … The Rock are looking to qualify for the PSAC playoffs for the first time since the program was reinstated in 2007 … The top six teams at the end of the regular season will qualify.



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