GREENWOOD, S.C. – Camryn Whipple scored with 14 seconds left in regulation to lift the Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team to a thrilling 16-15 upset win on the road at Lander University Saturday to close out The Rock's spring break trip to the Carolinas.
 
Lander entered the game receiving votes in the latest Division II national poll, but slips to 3-4 overall with its first loss to an unranked opponent. Slippery Rock bounces back from a 12-11 double overtime loss at No. 24 Mount Olive Wednesday to improve to 4-1 overall on the season.
 
Saturday's game featured numerous momentum swings from both teams and saw a dramatic finish with two scoring chances in the final 20 seconds.
 
The Rock scored four straight goals midway through the second period and took a 10-9 lead into the halftime break. After Lander tied the game at 11-11 with 5:50 to play in the third period, SRU strung together three straight goals to open up a 15-12 lead with just 6:19 to play in the fourth quarter.
 
From there, Lander rallied back to tie the game with a 3-0 run that was capped by the tying goal from Emmy Peterson with 2:02 to play, which made it 15-15.
 
Slippery Rock lost the ensuing draw control, but regained possession when former SRU player Brooke Kelly, who transferred to Lander after the 2022 season, turned the ball over with 1:13 to play on a pass that was broken up by Rock goalie Gillian O'Rourke.
 
SRU successfully cleared the ball and called timeout to set up what it thought would be one final shot to win the game in regulation. Out of the timeout, Rachel Mahoney found a cutting Whipple in front of the net and Whipple fired home her seventh goal of the game to make it 16-15 with just 14 seconds left.
 
Lander won the final draw control and raced down the field, drawing a foul inside the 8-meter arc with just two seconds left. Kasey Bronco had a chance to tie the game with a free position shot at the buzzer, but her shot went high when O'Rourke came out to challenge, sealing the win for SRU.
 
The teams were nearly evenly matched all day with SRU posting an 18-17 edge in draw controls and Lander earning slim advantages of 28-27 in total shots and 15-11 in ground balls.
 
Whipple was the standout performer in the game and finished with a career-high seven goals to go along with one assist for a game-high eight points. Krysta Frankowski added two goals and three assists, Isabella Buono scored two goals and had one assist, Lauren Searles had two goals and Mahoney had one goal and one assist to round out the players with multiple points.
 
Erin Melcher and Sydney Ulmer each scored one goal and Maddie Blazey had one assist to round out the scorers.
 
Charleigh Rondeau grabbed a game-high 11 draw controls and crossed the 400-draw control milestone in the process, extending her SRU record to 401 career draw controls. Paige Jenkins also grabbed six draw controls and had one caused turnover.
 
O'Rourke made six saves in the win, including three in the third quarter and four total in the second half.
 
Peterson led Lander with seven points on four goals and three assists. Mickey Burnett added four goals and one assist. Kelly tallied one goal against her former team. Kara Krusbe took the loss in goal after allowing seven goals in just under 21 minutes of action. Taryn Sammons played 39:04 and allowed nine goals.
 
Slippery Rock will now shift its focus to the PSAC West schedule and will welcome preseason division favorite and 25th-ranked Seton Hill next Saturday for a noon game.
 
 


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