ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University field hockey team lost on the road in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference competition at Mercyhurst University, 5-2, Tuesday afternoon in Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock (6-10, 1-6 PSAC) fell behind 2-0 early in the second half and could never recover as Mercyhurst (5-11, 3-5 PSAC) went on to score the most points allowed by The Rock in a game this season.
 
Sophomore Kayla Ulrich and freshman Jessie Trube accounted for The Rock's two goals against the Lakers. Ulrich's goal was her team-leading eighth of the season while Trube's strike was her fifth of 2018. Ulrich and Trube have both scored goals in two of The Rock's last three games.
 
While the Lakers controlled possession for a large portion of the second half, Slippery Rock was able to thwart all of Mercyhurst's attempts early on until the 30th minute when Hayley Skidmore was able to score the game's opening goal and send the Lakers into halftime ahead 1-0.
 
Mercyhurst came out of the break quick and scored its second goal just 1:46 into the final half. Slippery Rock was able to cut the Lakers' lead in half in the 41st minute by way of Ulrich's goal, but MU promptly put any thoughts of a Rock comeback to rest with scores in the 43rd and 49th minutes to make it a 4-1 contest.
 
Trube posted The Rock's final goal of the game at 49:35 Mercyhurst's Abby D'Amato closing out the goal scoring for the contest with a goal in the 53rd minute to give the Lakers' a 5-2 lead they would hold onto for the remainder of the game.
 
Senior Hannah Downing registered a team-high three shots on goal with Ulrich and Trube taking two shots on target apiece. Sophomore Courtney Page, sophomore Abby McKay, junior Madison Krajewski and senior Liz Wolfe rounded out The Rock's attack with one shot on goal each.
 
Sophomore Maddie Murphy was the goalie of record for The Rock after making one save and allowing five goals in 56:12. Freshman Hannah Nurse tallied one save over 13:48 in relief of Murphy.
 
As a team, Mercyhurst held advantages over The Rock in shots (14-12) and penalty corners (12-6). SRU did hold an 11-7 edge in shots on goal.
 
Slippery Rock will look to bounce back from Wednesday's loss with a victory 1 p.m. Sunday against Bloomsburg University at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium on Senior Day.



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