WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The 11th ranked Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team outscored No. 5 West Chester University 4-1 in the fourth quarter to erase a three-goal halftime deficit and earn a 13-12 upset victory Saturday in an early season showdown of Atlantic Region favorites.
 
The Rock trailed 8-5 at halftime and 12-10 with 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter before shutting out West Chester for the final 10:12 and scoring the game's final three goals to complete the comeback win.
 
The game-winner came from Grace Rotter with 4:41 to play after Reagan Richeson tied the game at 12-12 just 30 seconds earlier. SRU survived three shots from West Chester in the final two minutes with the last of those three being saved by Ava Drath.
 
The victory marks the second straight win for Slippery Rock on the road at a top-five ranked West Chester team after SRU handed the Rams their only defeat of the 2025 season to win the Atlantic Region title. It also marked just the second win for SRU ever against West Chester after the Rams won the first 17 meetings in the series and it snapped an incredible streak of 60 straight regular season wins for WCU. Prior to Saturday, the last time West Chester lost a regular season game was March 22, 2022.
 
Slippery Rock is now 2-0 to open the year with wins over a pair of conference champions and NCAA Tournament qualifiers from a season ago, first defeating Great Midwest Athletic Conference champion Ashland earlier this week before taking down PSAC champion West Chester Saturday. The Golden Rams were making their season debut and open the year with an 0-1 record.
 
The two teams battled back and forth all day, including in a tight first half that saw five ties before West Chester scored three times in the final 2:15 of the second quarter to take an 8-5 lead to the break.
 
Slippery Rock was able to limit any runs by the hosts in the second half with West Chester never scoring consecutive goals in the third or fourth quarters. The Rock cut the deficit to one goal on three occasions, but each time West Chester answered to increase the edge back to two goals.
 
The final WCU strike came from Kendall Fortune with 10:12 to play to make it 12-10. Rotter opened the stretch run for SRU with a goal off an assist from Isabella Buono with 8:25 to play and Richeson tied it at 12-12 with a free position attempt with 5:11 to play. After a draw win, Rotter put The Rock out front for good just 30 seconds later when she scored from the right wing with 4:41 to play.
 
West Chester had three cracks at tying the game in the late stages and got three shots off. The first shot hit the crossbar before bounding out to a WCU attacker. A second shot missed the cage and a third shot was saved by Drath, who recorded just one save in the game but it came in the biggest moment. After the two teams traded turnovers with a minute to go, SRU was able to set up a successful clear to run out the clock and secure the win.
 
West Chester finished the game with advantages of 27-22 in total shots and 15-14 in ground balls. SRU put up an 18-10 advantage in draw controls and was better on the clear, going 10-of-14 while limiting the Rams to 8-of-13.
 
Richeson finished the game with four goals, while Rotter tallied three goals and handed out two assists for a game-high five points. Buono chipped in four points on two goals and two assists and Caitlyn Kelly added two goals.
 
Sydney Ulmer scored one goal and handed out one assist, Maddie Blazey dished out two assists, Ella Koslowski scored one free-position goal and Ava Dossier capped the scoring with one assist.
 
Shannon Von Kaenel outdrew the WCU roster by herself with 11 draw controls. Paige Jenkins paced the defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls. Violet Freebody added two caused turnovers and three ground balls.
 
Drath earned the win in goal after playing the final 20:13, coming in while SRU was trailing 10-8 late in the third quarter. She made one save and allowed two goals. Lily Ventresca started the game and allowed 10 goals with two saves in the first 39:47.
 
West Chester got four goals and one assist from Madeline Edinger and three goals and two assists from Lila McMahon-Skates. Morgan Koons started the game in goal and allowed five goals while recording three saves in the first 27:45. Hannah Cornelius played the final 32:15, allowing eight goals and recording no saves to take the loss.
 
Slippery Rock will return home to close out a tough three-game stretch against 2025 conference champions and NCAA Tournament teams when No. 18 Grand Valley State, the reigning Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Confefence champion, travels to SRU next Sunday, March 1, for a noon game.
 
 
 

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