SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Slippery Rock University field hockey team played a nearly flawless game Monday to earn a 7-0 victory at American International College.
 
The victory improves The Rock's record to 2-0 on the season. With the loss, American International drops to 0-2 in 2018.
 
Slippery Rock controlled possession for the majority of the contest and peppered the AIC cage with an array of shots while its defense was virtually impenetrable. SRU carried a relatively close 2-0 lead on the Yellow Jackets into halftime before exploding with five-second half goals, three of which came in a five-minute span, en route to the non-conference win.
 
Sophomore Kayla Ulrich, who had two assists against Saint Thomas Aquinas on Sunday, scored twice against American International for the fourth multi-goal game of her young career.
 
Senior Hannah Downing scored the game's first goal after finishing a perfect pass on a penalty corner from junior Kalie Reed.
 
After beginning the year with goals against Saint Thomas Aquinas on Sunday, sophomore Courtney Page and freshman Jessie Trube repeated their feats with scores against AIC as well. Senior Rachel Ivins and freshman Alayna Wagner rounded out The Rock's goal-scorers with one strike apiece. Ivins' goal was the first of her career.
 
Freshman Lauren Marks assisted on a pair of goals while freshman Emily Polakovsky, senior Sam Geroski and junior Brenna McGovern-Lind all set up goals for SRU as well. Marks exits the first weekend of her collegiate career with six points on two goals and two assists.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Murphy picked up her second win of the season after making one save in 53:58 of action before giving way to freshman Hannah Nurse, who closed out The Rock's first shutout of the year with four saves, including one diving stop on what appeared to be a sure AIC goal.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock held advantages over American International in total shots (18-8), shots on goal (15-5) and penalty corners (7-6).
 
Jessica Stone was the goalkeeper of record for AIC. She stopped six shots while allowing six goals in 54 minutes of playing time. Chelsea Davis paced the Yellow Jacket offense with four total shots, two of which were on goal.
 
Slippery Rock will look to remain perfect with a victory 2 p.m. Saturday against Belmont Abbey College in Richmond, Virginia.  
 
NOTES
• Slippery Rock is now 2-0 to start a season for the 10th time in school history. A win against Belmont Abbey would mark the fifth 3-0 start in school history.
• Just two games into her sophomore season, Ulrich already ranks 13th in program history in career points with 30.
• The Rock's 13 goals this weekend are tied with the 2001 team for most goals scored in the first two games of a season in program history.
• Monday's seven-goal outburst was the fifth highest single-game goal total in program history.
• Rock head coach Julie Swiney was the head coach at American International for four seasons from 2006-09. She is now 4-3 against her former team.
• Slippery Rock is one of just three Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference teams to exit the opening weekend of the season with multiple wins along with Millersville and Bloomsburg.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• 15' Hannah Downing (Kalie Reed) SRU 1 – AIC 0
• 33' Kayla Ulrich (Lauren Marks) SRU 2 – AIC 0
• 44' Jessie Trube (Emily Polakovsky) SRU 3 – AIC 0
• 46' Courtney Page (unassisted) SRU 4 – AIC 0
• 49' Kayla Ulrich (Brenna McGovern-Lind) SRU 5 – AIC 0
• 52' Rachel Ivins (Lauren Marks) SRU 6 – AIC 0
• 64' Alayna Wagner (Sam Geroski) SRU 7 – AIC 0
 
 
 
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