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SALEM, Va. – The best season in Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse history came to an end Thursday night with a 15-13 loss to No. 7 Adelphi University in the semifinals of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at Kerr Stadium on the campus of Roanoke College.
 
Slippery Rock, which entered the game ranked 12th in the nation in the most recent IWLCA poll, ends its year with an 18-3 overall record. Seventh-ranked Adelphi improves to 19-3 and will play the University of Tampa 5 p.m. Saturday in the national championship game.
 
In addition to advancing to the national semifinals in the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance, SRU's 18 wins are a single-season program record. All three of The Rock's losses came against nationally ranked teams either on the road or in a neutral site venue.
 
Grace Rotter led The Rock's effort Thursday with eight points on five goals and three assists. Isabella Buono recorded four points via two goals and two assists while Leora Owings netted two goals.
 
Abby Fink, Eryn Little, Reagan Richeson and Krysta Frankowski chipped in one goal apiece.
 
Owings and Paige Jenkins accounted for 14 of The Rock's 17 draw controls with eight and six, respectively.
 
Defensively, Lily Ventresca made 12 saves while Victoria Ziemba caused a pair of turnovers. Richeson, Little, Nicole Masi and Sydney Ulmer corralled two ground balls apiece.
 
AU held a 3-2 lead following the first quarter before stretching its lead to four goals at 7-3 midway through the second quarter only for The Rock to mount its first rally of the night with three consecutive goals to end the half trailing by just one goal, 7-6. Buono, Little and Frankowski accounted for the goals with Rotter assisting on two of the strikes.
 
The turning point of the game came in the third quarter as Adelphi re-captured the momentum by outscoring SRU, 6-0, in the period to push its lead out to a seemingly safe 13-6 advantage.
 
Undeterred, Slippery Rock mounted another commendable comeback spearheaded by Rotter, who oversaw an SRU run in which The Rock scored five consecutive goals to open the fourth quarter with four goals of her own. With 11:25 to play in regulation, SRU trailed just 13-11.
 
However, the two-goal deficit proved to be as close as SRU could get. Adelphi did just enough down the stretch to stave off Slippery Rock on the way to securing an eventual 15-13 win.
 
As a team, Adelphi held advantages over The Rock in total shots (38-23), shots on goal (23-12) and ground balls (15-12) while committing nine turnovers to SRU's 11. Both teams were exceptional on clears with Adelphi going a perfect 17-for-17 and The Rock converting 17 of their 18 attempts.
 
Marielle Colalillo led Adelphi with four goals while Amanda Lee caused five turnovers.

Prior to Thursday's game Erin Melcher was recognized as the Women's Lacrosse NCAA Division II Elite 90 Award winner. The NCAA Elite 90 award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average at each of the organization's 90 National Championship finals sites.
 
Slippery Rock's graduating seniors of Masi, Ziemba, Little, Frankowski, Hailey Ohlsen and Amelia Nitsche leave as the winningest four-year class in program history and the only senior class to win 10 or more games in all four years of their career.




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