ERIE, Pa. – The 25th ranked Mercyhurst University women's lacrosse team scored twice in the final five minutes to fight off an upset bid from Slippery Rock University and come away with a 13-11 win Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game from Saxon Stadium.
 
The Rock led numerous times throughout a back-and-forth game in which neither team ever managed to lead by more than three goals. SRU's last lead of the game came at 8-7 with 15:23 to play before the Lakers put together the deciding run.
 
Mercyhurst scored four straight goals in a stretch of just over four minutes to take an 11-8 lead with 11:17 to play.
 
Slippery Rock answered the call with its own 3-0 run that included two goals from Katie Dlugosz, the last of which tied the game at 11-11 with just 6:48 to play.
 
Mercyhurst capitalized on a pair of Slippery Rock fouls down the stretch to score the win, first finding the go-ahead goal on a free-position attempt with 4:22 to play and finally scoring a man-up goal with 1:11 to play after a yellow card on SRU.
 
Slippery Rock drops to 4-5 overall and 3-5 in PSAC games with the loss, while Mercyhurst improves to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in conference play.
 
The Rock finished the game with a 28-24 advantage in shots and a 14-12 edge in draw controls. Mercyhurst managed a 15-11 edge in ground balls. Both teams were successful on 15 clears with SRU going 15-of-19 and Mercyhurst going 15-of-18.
 
Jamie DiCarlo paced The Rock attack with three goals and two assists. Emily Benham added two goals and two assists and Dlugosz finished with two goals and one assist. Charleigh Rondeau added two goals to cap the multiple point scorers. Rondeau also grabbed seven draw controls.
 
Sam Barnhart and Emily Mox each scored one goal and Molly Buettner added one assist to cap the point scorers.
 
Gillian O'Rourke was credited with four saves in goal.
 
Mercyhurst was led by Molly Meegan with three goals and two assists. Julia Ruscio added a hat trick and Paige Cocina, Payton Cook and Rachel Hirst each scored two goals. Kaitlyn Lippert was credited with 11 saves in goal.
 
Slippery Rock will look to bounce back when it faces its second straight ranked opponent as No. 23 Seton Hill is set to travel to SRU Wednesday for a 4 p.m. game.



To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).