GREENSBURG, Pa. – The 20th ranked Seton Hill University women's lacrosse team held off a furious late rally by Slippery Rock to escape an upset bid with a 13-12 win Wednesday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game at Dick's Sporting Goods Field.
 
The Griffins jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the first quarter and led 9-3 with 6:57 to play in the second quarter, but Slippery Rock would outscore the hosts 9-4 the rest of the way and have a chance late in the game to tie it.
 
After The Rock cut the deficit to 10-7 with 13:51 to play in the final quarter, Seton Hill answered with a 3-0 run to stretch the lead back out to 13-7 with 9:33 to play, seemingly putting the game away.
 
Slippery Rock scored just over a minute later and then again with 4:35 to play to make it 13-9. The Rock then poured in three goals in a stretch of just 1:12 to narrow the margin to 13-12 with just 21 seconds to play. SRU won the final draw control and had a look at the tying goal, but Emily Benham's shot went wide with three seconds left.
 
Seton Hill picked up its sixth straight win and has not lost since falling 12-7 at Slippery Rock back in March. The Griffins improved to 10-3 overall and 6-2 in PSAC games, while The Rock slip to 7-6 overall and 3-5 in PSAC West games.
 
The teams played a fairly even back-and-forth game Wednesday with Seton Hill posting small advantages of 31-30 in total shots and 17-12 in draw controls. The Rock managed a 20-19 edge in ground balls and both teams were credited with 13 caused turnovers.
 
Benham paced the SRU attack with five goals, bringing her season total to 64 points and moving her up to No. 7 on the single-season scoring ledger at SRU. She is now just seven points away from tying the single-season record for points, 71, which was set by Kaytlin Callaghan in 2015.
 
Katie Dlugosz and Jamie DiCarlo each scored two goals and Eryn Little, Charleigh Rondeau and Brooke Wisniewski each scored one goal to cap the scorers.
 
SRU got four draw controls each from Little and Wisniewski and three caused turnovers from Little and Sara Danowski.
 
Gillian O'Rourke made 10 saves in goal for SRU.
 
Seton Hill got two goals and six assists from Jaclyn Frank and a hat trick from Alaina TeSelle. Kamille Ward made seven saves in goal for the Griffins.
 
Slippery Rock will look to get back in the win column Saturday when it travels to Edinboro for the final regular season road game. First draw is set for 1 p.m. The Rock will then close the regular season with three straight home games, welcoming Gannon April 19, Lock Haven April 27 and Indiana (Pa.) April 30.
 
SRU currently sits fifth in the PSAC West standings and can likely not afford to lose another game if it hopes to qualify for the PSAC tournament. Only the top three teams in each division make the postseason tournament.
 
 


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