2026 Schedule  |  2026 Roster  

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team was picked to repeat as Western Division champions this spring when the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced its preseason coaches poll Thursday.
 
A look at the preseason poll and some other news and notes heading into the 2026 season can be found below.
 
PSAC WEST POLL
The Rock garnered all five first place votes from the other teams in the division to sit atop the preseason poll. Seton Hill was picked second, followed by Lock Haven, Indiana (Pa.), Gannon and Edinboro in the Western Division.
 
1. Slippery Rock (5 first place votes)
2. Seton Hill (1 first place vote)
3. Lock Haven
4. Indiana (Pa.)
5. Gannon
6. Edinboro
 
PSAC EAST POLL
West Chester earned all six first place votes from the other teams to sit atop the Eastern Division poll. East Stroudsburg was picked second, followed by Kutztown, Millersville, Shippensburg, Bloomsburg and Shepherd.
 
1. West Chester (6 first place votes)
2. East Stroudsburg (1 first place vote)
3. Kutztown
4. Millersville
5. Shippensburg
6. Bloomsburg
7. Shepherd
 
HIGHEST PRESEASON PICK EVER
This marks the first time SRU has been picked atop the preseason poll since the program returned to varsity status in 2007. The Rock were picked to finish second entering last spring.
 
NEW PSAC PLAYOFF FORMAT
The PSAC will expand the playoff field this year by two teams and take the top four teams in each division, eliminating the first round bye for the No. 1 seeds. The first round will also feature crossovers with the other division, meaning the East No. 4 will travel to the West No. 1, etc. There will be no reseeding after the opening round and the semifinals and finals will be played out as a true bracket. The highest remaining seed in the Western Division will host the semifinals (May 1) and finals (May 3) this year.

2025 RECAP
Slippery Rock is coming off the best season in program history with an 18-3 overall record and a trip to the national semifinals last year. The Rock went 10-0 in PSAC West play to win the regular season division title and reached the PSAC title game for the first time since the program returned to NCAA status in 2007. After a loss at undefeated West Chester in the PSAC title game, SRU bounced back to win the Atlantic Region title and knock off No. 1 seed West Chester in the NCAA quarterfinals two weeks later, securing the first regional title in program history. The Rock narrowly missed out on a spot in the national title game, falling to annual power Adelphi 15-13 in the national semifinals. 
 
EARLY SEASON CLASH
It won't take long for the PSAC preseason favorites to meet this year as Slippery Rock is set to visit West Chester Feb. 21 for The Rock's second game of the season. That game will be a rematch of both the 2025 PSAC and Atlantic Region title games, which were also both played at West Chester. The two teams split the title games last year with West Chester winning the PSAC title before Slippery Rock claimed the regional title and handed the Golden Rams their only loss of the 2025 season.
 
PSAC TEAMS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
The PSAC enters the season with five teams listed in the top 25 of the IWLCA preseason national poll, headlined by West Chester at No. 4 and Slippery Rock at No. 8. East Stroudsburg enters the year ranked No. 14,followed by No. 17 Seton Hill and No. 21 Kutztown.
 
2-TIME COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR
Slippery Rock will enter the 2026 season with the same coaching staff for the fifth year in a row with head coach Taryn Burkholder and assistant coach Jordan Anderson both returning. That duo is the most successful coaching staff in program history and was named the Atlantic Region Staff of the Year in each of the last two years. Burkholder is the two-time reigning PSAC West Coach of the Year and Anderson was named the Division II Outstanding Assistant Coach nationally following the 2025 season. Burkholder has led the team to at least 10 wins in all four years at the helm and enters this year with a 53-21 record at SRU. She has led the program to the two highest single-season win totals in school history over the last two years with a 15-4 record in 2024 and an 18-3 mark in 2025.
 
THREE PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Slippery Rock had three players named to the USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason All-America team this week, headlined by first team defender Paige Jenkins. Attacker Grace Rotter was named to second team honors and goalie Lily Ventresca was named to the honorable mention squad. All three women were named to at least one All-America team after the 2025 season with Jenkins becoming the first SRU player in program history to earn coaches association first team All-America honors. Rotter was also named to the coaches association third team and Ventresca picked up USA Lacrosse Magazine honorable mention recognition.
 
JENKINS BACK TO LEAD DEFENSE
Junior Paige Jenkins was named the PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Year last year and picked up her second straight All-PSAC and All-Region honors. In two seasons, she has racked up 64 caused turnovers, 136 draw controls and 66 ground balls. Jenkins will lead a new-look defense for SRU after the graduations of defenders Nicole Masi, Amelia Nitsche, Victoria Ziemba and Hailey Ohlsen. Mckenzie Murphy returns to join Jenkins after starting 11 games last year. The other defensive spots will be filled by new starters with returners Gemma Sciarroni and Alexis Krohmalney being joined by freshmen Violet Freebody, Gianna Vallese, Danielle Raymond and Lily Fazio.
 
BACK ON ATTACK
Senior Grace Rotter headlines the returning attackers and The Rock will welcome back all four of its top point scorers from a year ago. Rotter put up 82 points last year, the second most in a season in program history, with 53 goals and 29 assists. Abby Fink and Reagan Richeson also return after both tallying career-highs of 50 goals last year with Fink also handing out 13 assists and Richeson tallying 10 assists. That threesome became the first trio in program history to all net 50 goals in a single season. Isabella Buono is also back after scoring a career-high 49 points on 31 goals and 18 assists to rank fourth on the team in scoring. SRU enters this season with no freshmen true attackers with all nine attackers on the roster being returners. Ava Dossier (11g, 10a), Maddie Blazey (6g, 6a), Lauren Petty (2g), Claire Petty (1g, 1) and Shannon Von Kaenel (1g, 1a) all tallied points a year ago.
 
DRAW SPECIALIST
SRU returns draw specialist Shannon Von Kaenel, who also plays spurts on attack. Von Kaenel helped SRU to be one of the top draw teams in the country last year with The Rock outdrawing opponents 324-228 on the season. She personally nabbed 81 draws and helped Leora Owings to rack up 140 draws on the year.
 
NEW FACES AT MIDDIE
One question for SRU this year will be who takes over in the midfield, where the graduations of All-American Leora Owings and do-it-all standout Eryn Little will be felt. Owings pulled down 140 draws to go along with 49 points and Little racked up 25 goals and was SRU's most consistent free position shooter. Senior captain Sydney Ulmer and fellow seniors Erin Melcher and Ella Koslowski both return, along with junior Brooke Walters and sophomores Cadyn Eismann and Laurelle Surette. That group will be joined by freshmen Caitlyn Kelly, Aleigha Dubroc, Amara Langstaff and Madi Leach.
 
NO CHANGE IN GOAL
Slippery Rock welcomes back both of its goalies from a year ago in junior Lily Ventresca and senior Ava Drath. That duo combined to post an 18-3 record with an 8.60 goals against average and a .405 save percentage last season. Ventresca set the SRU single-season record for wins and went 16-1.
 
CAPTAINS
The Rock named three captains for the year with Sydney Ulmer, Isabella Buono and Ava Drath set to serve as the team captains.
 
SCHEDULE OUTLOOK
Slippery Rock will face one of the toughest early season schedules in the region, opening the spring at home Feb. 18 against a good Ashland University team before playing back-to-back nationally ranked opponents with a trip to No. 4 West Chester for a regional title game rematch Feb. 21 and a home game against No. 18 Grand Valley State March 1.
 
SRU will play five games this spring against teams ranked in the top 20 of the preseason national poll and two more against Indiana (Pa.), which is one of three teams listed as receiving votes in the preseason poll. In addition to facing No. 4 West Chester and No. 18 Grand Valley State early in the year, SRU will also visit No. 20 Lander March 14 and will play a pair of games against No. 17 Seton Hill in PSAC West play. Full schedule available HERE.
 
LIVE COVERAGE IN 2026
All regular season games, both home and away, will feature live statistics this spring and most will include live video broadcasts. All SRU home games and most PSAC away games will be broadcast for free on the Rock Athletics Digital Network, which can be viewed on any web browser or mobile device at rockathletics.com/video and can be viewed on smart TV devices including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Android TV. Simply search for "Rock Athletics" in the respective app stores on those devices to download the app for free. All live coverage links for each game will be posted to the schedule page before each game and a full preview of each game will be posted to RockAthletics.com the day before each contest.





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