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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 12th ranked Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team locked up the first regular season division title in program history and a earned a No. 1 seed in the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament with a wild 11-10 victory over No. 18 Seton Hill University in a PSAC West showdown Wednesday from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
Slippery Rock locks up the PSAC West title and improves to 14-1 overall and 9-0 in PSAC West action while extending its current winning streak to a program record nine straight games. The Rock will win the division title outright regardless of the outcomes of Saturday's final regular season games. SRU advances straight to the PSAC semifinals May 2 at East Division champion West Chester University and will meet the winner of the East Division's quarterfinal game between No. 2 East Stroudsburg and either Millersville or Kutztown.
 
Seton Hill slips to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in the division with both losses coming against SRU. The Griffins can lock up the No. 2 seed in the division with a win over Gannon Saturday. Lock Haven, which visits Slippery Rock Saturday, has already locked up the final PSAC West playoff spot and will meet SHU in the quarterfinals next Tuesday with the higher seed hosting. The winner of that quarterfinal will play undefeated West Chester in the other PSAC semifinal May 2.
 
The Rock dominated the opening half Wednesday, scoring the first six goals and jumping out to a 7-1 lead after outshooting Seton Hill 29-8 over the first 30 minutes. The trend continued early in the second half as SRU poured in three more goals to take a 10-1 lead with 9:09 to play in the third.
 
It looked like SRU was set to put the game into a running clock situation, but Seton Hill had other plans. The Griffins closed the rest of the third period on a 2-0 run to go into the fourth trailing 10-3.
 
SRU needed less than a minute of the fourth quarter to push the advantage back out to eight goals at 11-3 when Abby Fink scored what would end up being the game-winning goal with 14:13 to play.
 
Seton Hill did not allow another goal over the final 14 minutes and poured in seven straight goals in a stretch of just over 11 minutes to battle all the way back to within one when Skylar Orlowski scored her sixth goal of the game to make it 11-10 with 1:58 to play.
 
The Griffins won the next draw control and had a full possession clock to find the tying goal, but turned the ball over for the 21st time in the game with Leora Owings contesting a pass and Victoria Ziemba coming up with the ground ball in front of the goal with just over a minute to play.
 
The Rock cleared the zone and played keep away to run out the game clock and secure the victory.
 
After firing 29 shots in the first half, Slippery Rock shot just 10 times in the second half to finish with a 39-23 advantage in total shots. The Rock also posted advantages of 14-11 in draw controls and 18-10 in caused turnovers while dominating clear attempts in the game. SRU was 11-of-13 on the clear and limited Seton Hill to just 8-of-19. The Griffins managed a 25-22 edge in ground balls and a 15-7 advantage in saves.
 
Abby Fink finished with a team-high four goals for SRU while Isabella Buono scored the first three goals of the game and added one assist to finish with four points. Reagan Richeson and Grace Rotter each chipped in one goal and one assist and Krysta Frankowski added two assists to give SRU five players with multiple points. Ella Koslowski and Leora Owings capped the goal scorers with one each and Eryn Little added one assist to round out the point scorers.
 
Rotter also finished with a team-high three caused turnovers while Amelia Nitsche added two caused turnovers and a team-high four ground balls and Owings caused two turnovers and snagged a game-high seven draw controls.
 
Lily Ventresca improved to 13-0 in goal with seven saves, two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
 
Orlowski led Seton Hill with a game-high six goals while Mila Udovicic and Grace Agnello each scored one goal and handed out two assists. Allison Hathaway took the loss after allowing 10 goals and recording 10 saves in 35:51 between the posts. Emma Zepp played the final 24:09 and allowed one goal while making five saves.
 
Slippery Rock will close the regular season at home Saturday with a noon game against Lock Haven. The Rock will honor their senior class in a brief Senior Day ceremony before opening draw.
 
 


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