ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team outscored No. 17 Mercyhurst University 9-4 over the final 54 minutes of the game, but couldn't recover from a 6-0 deficit incurred over the first six minutes as the Lakers held on for a 10-9 win Wednesday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action from Tullio Field.
 
Mercyhurst scored twice in the first two minutes and pushed the advantage out to 6-0 just 5:34 into the game, a margin that would prove too big for The Rock to recover from. SRU responded with four straight goals and cut it to 8-4 at halftime before outscoring the Lakers 5-2 in the second half.
 
Tia Torchia scored her fourth goal of the game with 1:07 to play and SRU won the ensuing draw control, but never got a look at the tying goal after a late turnover.
 
The Lakers lock up a PSAC playoff berth with the win and improve to 10-4 overall and 8-3 in PSAC games. Slippery Rock drops to 11-5 overall and 6-5 in PSAC games with the loss and now must wait for the results of this Saturday's games to see if it will make the playoffs for the first time since the program was reinstated in 2007.
 
The Rock entered the final three games of the season needing just one win to clinch that berth, but have dropped back-to-back one-goal games after seeing late rallies fall just short. SRU has now suffered two one-goal defeats on the year, along with two two-goal losses and its worse loss, just a three-goal defeat, for a total losing margin of just nine goals in the five losses.
 
Mercyhurst posted a 24-19 advantage in total shots Wednesday night, while Slippery Rock managed a 16-14 edge in ground balls. Both teams were credited with 10 draw controls.
 
Torchia led the attack with four goals and ShyAnne Toomer also notched four points with two goals and two assists. Ally Culhane, Chynna Chan and Caitlynn Palladino all scored one goal to round out the point scorers.
 
Emily Bitka recorded 10 saves in goal and Danie Porath led the defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.
 
Mercyhurst was led by Carly Zimmerman with four goals and one assist and Taylor Izzo with one goal and three assists. Kristin Anderson added two goals and one assist and Janelle Williams tallied two goals. Gabby Gravino made 10 saves in goal.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its attention to trying to win its regular season finale this Saturday at 1 p.m. on the road at Shippensburg.
 
Despite posting the second most wins in a single-season in program history, The Rock find themselves potentially needing a win Saturday to clinch a playoff spot. If SRU wins that game, it will be guaranteed a playoff position based on owning the head-to-head tiebreakers over both Lock Haven and Seton Hill. A loss on Saturday would leave The Rock's fate in the hands of those two teams. Wins by both LHU and Seton Hill would knock SRU out of the playoffs, while losses by either or both would create at least a three-way tie and potentially a four-way tie with Bloomsburg for the final playoff spots.
 
 If SRU does qualify for the playoffs, its first round game will be on the road May 2 as Wednesday night's loss eliminated any chances of a home playoff game.