Slippery Rock University Athletics

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The No. 9 Slippery Rock University field hockey team lost Saturday at No. 7 West Chester University, 5-2.
 
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference defeat moves The Rock's record to 10-6 overall and 2-6 in league play. The host Golden Rams improve to 10-6 overall and 3-5 inside the PSAC. The loss eliminates Slippery Rock from PSAC Tournament contention.
 
Facing near constant pressure for the majority of the game that included 21 West Chester shots and 13 Golden Ram penalty corners, Rock goalkeeper Sam Black kept SRU in the game for much of the day, finishing with 10 stops and breaking up a multitude of passes in what was her second double-digit save performance of the year.
 
Offensively, Hilary Hoffman totaled two assists on goals from Grace Williams and Lucy Hutchinson. Saturday saw Hoffman and Hutchinson match a pair of impressive program records.
 
With her two assists, Hoffman enters SRU's season finale tied with Megan McKay for The Rock's career assists record of 15. At seven assists in 2026, Hoffman is also one assist away from tying Kailee Krupski (2016) and Kayla Del Vecchio (2022) for Slippery Rock's single-season assists record.
 
Hutchinson's goal was her 16th of 2026, tying her with McKay (2015) for the most goals by a Rock athlete in a single season. Additionally, Hutchinson – who also has four assists on the year - is just three points shy of breaking McKay's 2015 total points single-season record of 38.
 
Williams' goal was her seventh of 2026, a career-high for the junior.
 
Slippery Rock ended Saturday with 12 shots, seven of which were on target. Keila Schutte-Hanekom led The Rock with three shots on goal followed by one apiece from Hutchinson, Williams, Hoffman and Josie Shultz.
 
The first set of solid scoring chances of the day belonged to the Golden Rams who received a pair of penalty corners in the opening four minutes only for Black to send away four shots over the stretch to end the early threat.
 
WCU continued to pressure The Rock's defense through the first quarter, but Black and SRU's defense cleared two more corners with Black making an additional two saves to keep the game in a 0-0 tie after 15 minutes of play.
 
West Chester earned the game's first goal when the Golden Rams finally broke through The Rock's stout defense in the 17th minute. WCU made the most of its fifth corner of the game on a Grace Shepherd goal that deflected past Black.
 
WCU added to its lead five minutes later on another corner. The Golden Rams benefitted from an unlucky SRU bounce that led to a ball deflecting over Black and into the back of the cage at 21:49. The two-goal margin held into the halftime break.
 
After being limited to only one shot in the first half, Slippery Rock came out strong in the third quarter. Hoffman intercepted a pass at midfield, navigated her way through the West Chester defense to find Willimas, who made the most of her first opportunity by beating Erin O'Brien and pulling SRU to within one goal at 2-1.
 
However, penalty corners continued to pile up in favor of WCU and the sustained pressure eventually led to the Golden Rams' third score at 33:50 to push their lead back out to two goals.
 
The Rock nearly cut into their deficit again five minutes into the fourth quarter, but a Riley Cloude attempt hit off the post, a Hoffman shot was saved and WCU ultimately cleared two SRU corners.
 
West Chester then added two more scores 1:53 apart before Hutchinson registered her single-season record matching goal in the final moments of the 5-2 defeat.
 
Veerle Hersman scored two goals for West Chester. Laura Rogers and Anna Finn had two assists apiece. WCU held advantages over The Rock in total shots (21-12), shots on goal (15-7) and penalty corners (13-6). Four of the Golden Rams' goals came off penalty corners.
 
Slippery Rock closes its 2026 season 11 a.m. Nov. 7 against Mansfield at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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