MANSFIELD, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University field hockey team dropped a close Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference contest to No. 10 Mansfield University, 1-0, Wednesday in a shootout following two overtime periods.
 
With the game tied at 0-0 following four regulation quarters and two overtime periods, The Rock (3-10, 0-5 PSAC) and the Mounties (10-3, 3-1 PSAC) headed to what was SRU's first shootout of the year.
 
Per NCAA rules, each team was awarded five attempts in the shootout. However, in what came as no surprise in a game with two teams matched so evenly, both squads were only able to convert two of the five attempts in the first shootout as goalkeepers Hannah Nurse and Brittney Ryan were both able to stop three attempts.
 
As the game remained tied, an additional sudden death shootout round was started. Both teams were unsuccessful in its first attempts of the second shootout, but Mansfield's Christie Buyer was finally able to break the tie on MU's second attempt when she beat Nurse to give the nationally ranked Mounties a 1-0 victory.
 
Nurse and the rest of the Slippery Rock backline were exceptional Wednesday. Fighting through constant rain showers throughout the match, SRU successfully defended 28 Mansfield shots and 18 penalty corners prior to the shootout. Nurse ended what was perhaps her best collegiate game to date with 12 saves. Lacy Bayley also tallied her first career defensive save.
 
The Rock's offense produced six shots for the game as Addy Ross, Lauren Marks, Kayla Ulrich, Courtney Page, Jessie Trube and Emily Polakovsky each posted attempts with the shots by Page, Trube, Polakovsky, Ross and Marks being on target.
 
Following four scoreless quarters, Slippery Rock just missed out on registering the game-winning goal on a pair of attempts in the first overtime period.
 
Four minutes into overtime, Trube made a long run into the Mansfield zone and took a shot from the left of the cage that was narrowly stopped by Ryan. Then with 2:33 remaining in the first set of extra time, Ryan came out of the cage to play a ball that was deflected back to Ulrich who proceeded to send in an attempt that sailed just off target as the game headed to a second overtime period.
 
Slippery Rock had two more shots stopped in the second overtime while Nurse maintained the scoreless contest on her end of the field with four stops of her own to send the match into the shootout which The Rock would ultimately go on to lose in a close 1-0 defeat.
 
For the game, Mansfield held advantages over The Rock in total shots (28-6), shots on goal (13-5) and penalty corners (18-2).
 
Slippery Rock will look to bounce back from Wednesday's loss with a victory 12 p.m. Saturday at No. 3 Millersville University.
 
 
 
To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).