SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team picked up the first modern-era playoff win in program history with a 15-6 victory over Lock Haven Tuesday in the quarterfinal round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock extend their single-season program record for wins to 15 and improve to 15-3 overall with the victory. Lock Haven closes its season with a 14-4 overall record with three of those four losses coming against Slippery Rock.
 
SRU advances to the PSAC semifinals for the first time and will play undefeated West Chester Friday at 4 p.m. at Seton Hill. The Golden Rams are 17-0 and ranked No. 2 in the latest IWLCA top 25 national rankings. West Chester had a first round bye Tuesday as the No. 1 seed in the East Division. Seton Hill, the top seed in the West Division, will play Kutztown in the other semifinal Friday after Kutztown defeated East Stroudsburg 10-8 in the quarterfinals.
 
Slippery Rock led wire-to-wire Tuesday after scoring the first three goals and jumping out to a 4-1 lead after the opening period. The Rock opened and closed the second quarter with 3-0 spurts to take a 10-3 lead into halftime and put the game away by outscoring Lock Haven 3-0 in the third.
 
Charleigh Rondeau was dominant in the draw circle and led SRU to a 20-5 advantage in draw controls after pulling down 10 herself. The Rock used that possession advantage to outshoot Lock Haven 30-20. SRU also managed a 17-16 edge in ground balls.
 
Reagan Richeson continued her stellar play against the Bald Eagles with six points on five goals and one assist. She tallied 15 total goals in three games against Lock Haven this year. Lauren Searles also continued her late season offensive surge with five goals.
 
Camryn Whipple added one goal and two assists, Rachel Mahoney scored one goal and handed out one assist and Krysta Frankowski tallied two assists to give SRU five players with multiple points in the game.
 
Brooke Wisniewski, Sydney Ulmer and Ava Dossier rounded out the goal scorers with one each and Rondeau handed out one assist to cap the point scorers.
 
Nicole Masi and Paige Jenkins each had two caused turnovers to lead the defense and Gillian O'Rourke picked up her 15th win of the season after making eight saves in goal.
 
Lock Haven got two goals and one assist from Abby Katrinak and two assists from Nadia Baskot. Dana Mirigliano made 13 saves in goal.
 
Slippery Rock's win Tuesday is also likely to have major implications for the NCAA Tournament, with the lacrosse committee set to announce the national tournament field Sunday evening. The Rock were ranked fifth in last week's poll, but have won three straight games since the data for those rankings was considered and are moving on in the PSAC Tournament. East Stroudsburg was fourth last week, but split with Kutztown in its last two games and now has six losses on the year after losing in the PSAC quarterfinals Tuesday.
 
Before SRU can worry about Sunday night's selection show, it will turn the focus to the toughest test of the year with a showdown Friday against No. 2 West Chester in the PSAC semifinals.
 
 

 
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