ERIE, Pa. — The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team rallied late after going down by three but fell shy of a comeback in a 4-2 loss Wednesday at Gannon University.
 
The loss moves The Rock's record to 5-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division. The Golden Knights, now having won three straight games, improve to 5-2-1 overall, 5-1 in PSAC West competition.
 
The pair of Slippery Rock goals came courtesy of Brooke Riefenstahl and Morgan Sarver, with Maddie DeLucio and Ashley Rea each earning an assist. Riefenstahl's goal was her first of the season and fourth in her career. She also became the 12^th different goalscorer for The Rock this year.
 
Sarver's goal pushed her to a team-high 14 points on four goals and six assists. DeLucio's assist was her first on the year and third in her career, now with one in each of the three seasons she has played. Rea earned her third assist of 2023, the fourth of her career.
 
DeLucio and Sarver both led The Rock in shots, each with two total shots and one shot on net. Riefenstahl, Skylar Munnikhuysen and Sydney Patrick each took one shot on the day.
 
Leah Allman played the full 90 minutes in net, making a career-high seven saves on another career-high of 28 shots faced.
 
Gannon's true freshman, Grace Emanuel, got on the board first in the 25^th minute on a ball played in by Brooklyn Respecki. Emanuel doubled the Golden Knights' lead with just 2:34 to play in the first half.
 
Slippery Rock trailed at half time, 2-0, while Gannon poured the offensive pressure on with a 13-3 lead in shots.
 
Gannon would continue to blitz SRU's half of the field, but would not be able to add to the scoreline until the 73^rd minute, when Emanuel earned her first career hat trick with a third goal of the day.
 
Just 2:25 later, Riefenstahl nabbed a goal for The Rock after a DeLucio free kick deflected off the keeper directly in front of Riefenstahl, allowing her to score with ease.
 
Slippery Rock kept the rally alive five minutes later with an 81^st minute goal when Sarver cut a pass behind Gannon's last defender and sent the ball over the keeper.
 
Despite their lead collapsing from 3-0 to 3-2, the Golden Knights went right back to business, answering in the 83^rd minute with a heading goal from Respecki.
 
Gannon outshot SRU in the second half, 17-4. On the match as a whole, Gannon held the advantage in shots (30-7), shots on goal (12-3), and corners (3-1).
 
The Rock will resume play 1 p.m. Saturday when they travel to California (Pa.). The Rock went 0-1-1 against the Vulcans a year ago.



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