CLARION, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team defeated Clarion, 4-0, in its regular season finale Saturday to clinch a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament bid.
 
Saturday's win combined with Seton Hill University's 0-0 tie vs. Indiana University (Pa.) sends SRU into the PSAC Tournament as the third seed out of the Western Division due to The Rock holding the tiebreaker over SHU. Gannon University claims the top seed in the PSAC West followed by Mercyhurst University at third and Seton Hill in the fourth spot.
 
With the win, SRU improves to 7-3-8 on the season overall and 6-3-7 in the PSAC West while Clarion ends the season 4-11-3 overall and 3-10-3 in the division.
 
SRU's offensive onslaught was brought on by four different players who scored goals in Maddie DeLucio, Brooke Riefenstahl, Morgan Sarver and Kayla Swope. Sarver and Swope netted their third goals of the year while Riefenstahl scored her second.
 
Aiding in the attack was Sydney Patrick who dished out a trio of assists.
 
Emma Yoder earned her 10th shutout of the season after making three saves over 90 minutes.
 
Swope opened The Rock's scoring in the 18th minute heading home a perfectly placed corner kick sent into the box by Patrick for an early 1-0 SRU lead. Slippery Rock continued to possess the ball for the majority of the first half as it outshot Clarion 8-1 heading into halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, the Golden Eagle backline successfully defended nine Slippery Rock shots over the first 18 minutes of the second half, including seven that were on target, to Clarion goalkeeper Alex Velez.
 
However, The Rock went on the score three consecutive goals in under five minutes by way of DeLucio (64:48), Riefenstahl (65:05) and Sarver (68:18) to give SRU a healthy 4-0 lead.
 
Looking to spoil Slippery Rock's shutout, Clarion controlled possession in the game's waning moments as it took three shots, but were ultimately unable to break through The Rock's stellar defense as SRU closed out the shutout victory.
 
The Rock held advantages over the Golden Eagles in total shots (28-4), shots on goal (16-3) and corners (10-0).
 
Slippery Rock travels to Mercyhurst University for its opening-round PSAC Tournament game 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
 
The Rock and Lakers played to 1-1 and 0-0 ties in the regular season.








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