BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team won its season opener for the 15th straight year with an 18-3 victory on the road at D'Youville University Saturday afternoon.
 
The Rock scored eight goals in the first quarter and jumped out to a 9-0 lead on the way to extending their streak of victories in season-openers to 15 consecutive years, a streak that dates back to 2009. D'Youville slips to 1-2 overall on the year and 0-3 all-time against SRU.
 
The 18 goals scored by Slippery Rock mark the most by the program in its first game of the year since posting a 19-1 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in the 2018 opener.  
 
Slippery Rock scored eight times in the opening 15 minutes and was never really threatened from there, finishing the game with advantages of 28-11 in shots, 15-9 in draw controls and 12-11 in ground balls. The Rock went 19-of-20 on clear attempts and tallied nine caused turnovers in the game.
 
SRU got points from 12 different players in the game and saw multiple-point efforts from seven different players. Camryn Whipple led the way with five points on three goals and two assists, while Brooke Wisniewski added a team-high four goals and Charleigh Rondeau chipped in three goals and one assist to go along with a team-high eight draw controls. Rachel Mahoney scored a hat trick with three goals and Maddie Blazey, Krysta Frankowski and Erin Melcher all handed out two assists.
 
Lauren Searles and Sydney Ulmer each scored one goal to account for the final points from returning players, while three freshmen also netted their first collegiate goals with Isabella Buono, Ava Dossier and Reagan Richeson finding the back of the net.
 
Amelia Nitsche and Hailey Ohlsen both tallied three caused turnovers to lead the defensive effort and Gillian O'Rourke made five saves while allowing just three goals while playing the full 60 minutes in goal.
 
D'Youville was led by Sydney Gordon with one goal and one assist. Brinn Stworzydlak made six saves in goal.
 
The Rock will return home for a pair of non-conference games next week with the University of Findlay set to visit Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Wednesday for a 3 p.m. game and Frostburg State University scheduled to travel to SRU Saturday for a noon game.
 



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