INDIANA, Pa. – Charleigh Rondeau scored the game-winning goal one minute into overtime to lift the Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team to a 12-11 overtime win on the road at Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division match from Miller Stadium.
 
The Rock improve to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in PSAC West games with the win, while IUP sees a three-game winning streak snapped to slip to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in PSAC West action.
 
Saturday's game featured big momentum swings for both teams all day with Slippery Rock having the final say in the extra period. The Rock opened the game with a 4-0 run to jump out to an early lead, but IUP responded with three straight goals to cut the deficit to 5-4 after the first period.
 
Slippery Rock pushed the advantage out to four goals at halftime by outscoring the Crimson Hawks 4-1 in the second period to lead 9-5 at the break.
 
IUP returned the favor with a 4-0 spurt to start the third quarter before Slippery Rock broke the rally with one goal to send it to the fourth with The Rock leading 10-9. SRU extended that advantage to 11-9 just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, but could not score again in regulation.
 
IUP cut the deficit to 11-10 with 4:02 to play and capitalized on a late SRU turnover to score the tying goal at 11-11 with 1:10 to play. The Crimson Hawks won the final draw control and had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Gillian O'Rourke made her 14th save of the game with 11 seconds left in the period to send the game to overtime.
 
In the extra session, Rondeau flipped the opening draw to Camryn Whipple to earn possession and then took the game into her own hands. She beat her defender to the right, walked in on goal and ripped the overtime winner over the right shoulder of the IUP goalie to give The Rock a 12-11 win.
 
Rondeau finished the game with three goals and eight draw controls. Reagan Richeson added three goals for her second hat trick in as many games. Krysta Frankowski chipped in one goal and two assists, while Whipple scored two goals and Erin Melcher scored one goal and handed out one assist to round out the players with multiple points.
 
The Rock also got one goal each from Brooke Wisniewski and Sydney Ulmer and one assist each from Isabella Buono and Ava Dossier to cap the point scorers.
 
O'Rourke played her best game of the season to finish with 14 saves, including 10 in the second half alone. She also grabbed two ground balls. Nicole Masi paced the defensive effort in front of her with two caused turnovers.
 
Both teams finished with 33 total shots and 25 shots on goal. Slippery Rock posted a 17-10 advantage in draw controls and IUP managed a 19-18 edge in ground balls.
 
The Crimson Hawks were led by four goals from Kathryn Burke and three goals and one assist from Chantal Jimenez. Maddy Schramm made 13 saves in goal, including five in the fourth period.
 
Slippery Rock finished a tough week that included road games at two teams with unbeaten conference records and came out with a pair of close wins, 14-12 at Lock Haven and 12-11 at IUP. The Rock will return home to host a pair of PSAC West matches next week with Gannon visiting Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Mercyhurst visiting Friday at 4 p.m.
 
 


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