SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back on the way to a 12-7 upset victory over No. 18 Seton Hill University Saturday afternoon in a windy and rainy Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The victory is the first over a nationally ranked opponent for SRU since a 7-4 win over No. 22 Tiffin in the 2019 season opener, March 1, 2019 and is the first win over a top-20 ranked opponent since a 16-15 win at No. 19 Indiana (Pa.) March 28, 2018.
 
The victory improves SRU to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in PSAC West play, while Seton Hill drops its second straight conference game in a stretch of three days to slip to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in the PSAC West.
 
Slippery Rock scored the first two goals of the game and jumped out to a 4-1 lead before the end of the first quarter. The Rock pushed that advantage out to 6-1 less than three minutes into the second quarter and led 9-3 at halftime. Seton Hill outscored SRU 4-3 in the second half, including 3-1 in the final quarter, but never really threatened to get back into the game.
 
The Rock were led by two dominant individual performances on the attacking end of the field Saturday, by two players on opposite ends of their careers. Senior Emily Benham broke the SRU single-game assist record with seven helpers on the day and freshman Brooke Kelly scored a career-high six goals.
 
The seven assists for Benham bring her career total to 102 points, making her just the 15th player in program history to reach the 100-point milestone. They also give her 37 career assists and move her up to eighth all-time at SRU. She broke the former record of six assists in a single-game that was set by Chynna Chan against Chowan in 2014 and matched by Kaytlin Callaghan against Gannon in 2015.
 
The six goals scored by Kelly are tied for the second most ever scored in a single game by a freshman at SRU, one behind the seven Amy Halls scored against Edinboro in 2009. Halls finished her freshman year with six or more goals in three different games.
 
Slippery Rock also got a stellar performance on the defensive end of the field from goalie Gillian O'Rourke, who had her best game in an SRU uniform with 14 saves and seven ground balls. O'Rourke canceled any serious threat of a comeback attempt with nine saves in the second half. She was helped by a strong outing from defender Sara Danowski, who finished with four caused turnovers and two ground balls.
 
Jamie DiCarlo added one goal and three assists and Katie Dlugosz chipped in one goal and one assist to cap the players with multiple points. Emily Mox, Eryn Little and Camryn Whipple all scored one goal, as did Charleigh Rondeau. Rondeau also finished with eight draw controls in a matchup of the top two draw players in the country. Seton Hill's Megan Bunker entered the game ranked first in the nation as the only player ahead of Rondeau. Bunker pulled down nine draw controls to earn the individual edge, but Rondeau helped SRU to post a 14-9 advantage overall in the draw circle.
 
Both teams finished with 26 total shots in the game and SRU posted a slim 25-23 edge in ground balls. Both teams also failed on a matching number of clear attempts with SRU going 18-of-24 and Seton Hill going 14-of-20.
 
The Griffins got four goals from Jaclyn Frank and two from Skylar Orlowski. Kamille Ward took the loss in goal after allowing nine goals and recording four saves in the first half. Kyleigh Hessian played the second half and allowed three goals while making four saves.
 
Slippery Rock will look to continue its momentum when Edinboro University visits Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Tuesday for a 4 p.m. PSAC West match.
 
 


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