SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The seventh-ranked Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team will open a two-game South Carolina swing with a 4 p.m. game Saturday at Lander University.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
•  Live Stats: LINK
•  Live Video: LINK (pay-per-view) *
* Lander broadcasts its games on FloSports, which requires a paid subscription to view the game. There is no option to purchase a single-game pass. SRU's away games at Lander (March 14) and Newberry (March 18) will both be on FloSports, so fans purchasing a one-month subscription will be able to see both spring break games. Those are the only games remaining on the SRU schedule that will be behind a paywall.
 
GAME 6 DETAILS
• Opponent: Lander University
• Date: Saturday, March 14, 2026  |  4 p.m,
• Location: Von Taylor Stadium  |  Greenwood, S.C.
• All-Time Series: Tied 1-1
• Current Streak: Lander +1
• Last Meeting: March 15, 2025 – Lander won 10-9 in OT at Lander
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS  |  IWLCA  |  USA Lacrosse Magazine
Slippery Rock held steady at No. 7 in the IWLCA rankings and No. 3 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine rankings this week. Lander was ranked earlier this spring, but is not listed among the rankings this week.
 
SPRING BREAK TRIP
Slippery Rock flew to South Carolina Thursday and will spend a week down south for spring break. The Rock will play two key Atlantic Region games with visits to Lander Saturday and Newberry next Wednesday before flying home next Thursday. Both Lander and Newberry are members of the South Atlantic Conference (SAC), which joins with the PSAC and the Mountain East Conference to form the Atlantic Region in women's lacrosse.
 
RECORDS
Slippery Rock is 5-0 and is coming off a 22-3 win at home Wednesday over Wheeling University. Lander is 4-4 overall with three of those losses coming to top 15 ranked teams and two of them coming to top five teams, including defending national champion Tampa. The Bearcats are coming off a 14-11 win over PSAC West opponent Indiana (Pa.) Wednesday.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES  |  Game-by-Game Scores
The Rock are making their third straight trip to Lander for a spring break game after splitting one-goal games in each of the last two seasons. SRU won the first meeting in 2024 with a 16-15 victory before Lander returned the favor with a 10-9 overtime win last March. That overtime loss for SRU marked the only regular season loss in 2025 for The Rock and is still the last regular season loss for the program.
 
LAST MEETING  |  Box Score
Lander led for preciously zero seconds of game clock but scored the go-ahead goal when it mattered most to earn a 10-9 overtime win last spring. The Rock never trailed in the game and led 9-8 inside the final minute of the fourth quarter before Lander scored on a free position shot with 55 seconds left to tie the game at 9-9 and force overtime. The Bearcats then scored again on a free position attempt just over one minute into the overtime session to earn the 10-9 win. Slippery Rock finished with advantages of 25-16 in shots and 13-9 in draw controls while Lander posted a 16-14 edge in ground balls. The Bearcats were 5-of-7 on free position shots, scoring half of their goals from the 8-meter. SRU had nearly as many chances, but went just 2-of-9 on free position attempts. The Rock were paced by Isabella Buono with two goals and one assist, while Abby Fink and Sydney Ulmer each scored two goals. The Rock's goalies combined for just three saves in the game with Lily Ventresca recording two saves and allowing seven goals and Ava Drath recording one save and allowing three goals. Lander got one goal and two assists from Izzy Olson and two goals each from Ella Benson and Mickey Burnett. Kara Krusbe earned the win in goal with nine saves.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
• Overall Record: 5-0
• PSAC Record: 0-0
• Home Record: 3-0
• Away Record: 2-0
• Streak: W5
• Last Five Games: 5-0
• Head Coach: Taryn Burkholder (5th season, Niagara '12)  |  Record: 58-21
 
REGULAR SEASON WINNING STREAK
Slippery Rock has won 15 straight regular season games and is 20-1 in the regular season since the beginning of the 2025 season. The lone loss in that stretch is a 10-9 overtime loss at Lander on March 15, 2025. The only other two losses SRU has suffered since the opening of the 2025 season were in the PSAC title game last spring to No. 2 West Chester, which SRU avenged in the regional title game two weeks later, and in the national semifinals to No. 7 Adelphi.
 
WINS OVER THREE TOURNEY TEAMS
Slippery Rock opened the year with three straight games against defending conference champions and NCAA Tournament qualifiers from 2025. The Rock opened the year with an 18-9 win over GMAC champion Ashland, upset PSAC champion and No. 5 West Chester 13-12 on the road to snap the Golden Rams' 60-game regular season win streak and took down GLIAC champion Grand Valley State 10-6 in their first three games of the year.
 
SEVEN UNBEATENS LEFT
Slippery Rock enters the game Saturday as one of just seven Division II teams that are still undefeated on the year. The Rock and East Stroudsburg (6-0) are the only two teams in the Atlantic Region that have yet to lose a game.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Slippery Rock jumped out to a 10-0 lead and rolled to a 22-3 win over Wheeling at home earlier this week. The Rock outshot the Cardinals 41-10 and finished with advantages of 25-15 in ground balls and 20-8 in draw controls. A total of 11 different players scored points in the game with Reagan Richeson leading the way by matching her career-high with seven points on five goals and two assists. Isabella Buono added four goals and Abby Fink scored three goals and handed out two assists.
 
TWO LOPSIDED WINS IN A ROW
Slippery Rock is coming off a pair of dominant wins in its last two outings where it outscored Wheeling and D'Youville by a combined 41-7 while outshooting the two teams 88-20. Those lopsided wins now have The Rock outscoring opponents 82-34 overall and outshooting the opposition 170-88 on the season.
 
NATIONAL OFFENSIVE RANKS
Slippery Rock enters the weekend ranked third in the nation in shots on goal per game at 27.00 and eighth in the nation in total shots per game at 34.00. The Rock are 11th in Division II in scoring offense with 16.4 goals per game and rank eighth in the nation in scoring margin at +9.6 goals per game. SRU also ranks ninth nationally in assists per game at 9.00.
 
DEFENSIVE RANKS
The Rock enter the weekend ranked seventh nationally in caused turnovers per game at 13.40 and ninth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 6.80 goals per game. SRU's goalies have combined for a save percentage of .414, which ranks 55th nationally.
 
TOP 10 IN THE CIRCLE
Slippery Rock enters this game ranked sixth in the nation in draw controls per game (16.60) and 11th in draw control win percentage (64.8). Shannon Von Kaenel and her 40 draw controls are the primary reason for that as she currently ranks fifth in the nation in draw controls per game at 8.00. She also takes nearly all the draws and has helped The Rock to post an 83-45 advantage over opponents through five games. Grace Rotter has 19 draw controls and Paige Jenkins has 16 draw controls as that trio has 75 of the team's 83 draws.
 
FRESHMEN MAKING A MARK
Slippery Rock has started three true freshmen in every game so far this season and all three have made a noticeable impact. Midfielder Caitlyn Kelly is sixth on the team in scoring with nine goals and two assists for 11 points. The defensive midfielder combo of Aleigha Dubroc and Violet Freebody have combined for 18 caused turnovers and 23 ground balls. Freebody leads SRU with 14 ground balls to go along with nine caused turnovers while Dubroc has nine caused turnovers and nine ground balls.
 
SIX IN DOUBLE DIGITS
Slippery Rock has six players with at least 10 points through five games, led by Reagan Richeson with team-highs of 20 goals and 22 points. Richeson has also been instrumental on the ride, causing seven turnovers in transition. Isabella Buono is second in scoring with 14 goals and four assists, tying with All-American Grace Rotter with 18 points after Rotter has tallied 10 goals and eight assists. Maddie Blazey has four goals and a team-high 13 assists, Abby Fink has eight goals and four assists and Caitlyn Kelly has nine goals and two assists. Rotter, Richeson and Fink are all coming off 50-goal seasons in 2025 when they became the first trio in program history to score 50+ goals in a season.
 
BALANCED SCORING
The Rock also have 10 more players with points on the year, including Ava Dossier (5g, 2a), Cadyn Eismann (3g, 2a), Claire Petty (1g, 3a), Lauren Petty (2g, 1a), Sydney Ulmer (1g, 2a), Shannon Von Kaenel (1g, 1a), Ella Koslowski (1g, 1a), Madi Leach (1g), Amara Langstaff (1g) and Erin Melcher (1g).
 
LET'S TALK DEFENSE
The Rock rank ninth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 6.80 goals per game. All-American Paige Jenkins leads the defense with 12 caused turnovers and 11 ground balls. Freshman Aleigha Dubroc has nine caused turnovers and nine ground balls and fellow freshman Violet Freebody has nine caused turnovers and a team-high 14 ground balls. Attacker Reagan Richeson has seven caused turnovers and nine ground balls.
 
GOALIE PLAY
All-American goalie Lily Ventresca is 4-0 and has started all five games in goal. She ranks seventh nationally in goals against average 7.37. Ava Drath has played 80 minutes in relief and is 1-0. Ventresca owns a 7.37 goals against average and a .413 save percentage, while Drath is allowing 5.24 goals against average with a .417 save percentage. The pair have a combined 6.80 goals against average and .414 save percentage.
 
SRU PLAYERS IN TOP 20 IN CAREER RECORD BOOK
• Paige Jenkins – 152 draw controls (No. 6 at SRU – needs 18 to move up to No. 5)
• Reagan Richeson – 126 points (No. 9 at SRU – needs 3 to move up to No. 7)
• Reagan Richeson – 109 goals (No. 10 at SRU – needs 3 to move up to No. 9)
• Paige Jenkins – 76 caused turnovers (No. 11 at SRU – needs 2 to move up to No. 9)
• Shannon Von Kaenel – 124 draw controls (No. 11 at SRU – needs 8 to move up to No. 10)
• Grace Rotter – 37 assists (No. 13 at SRU – needs 1 to move up to No. 12)
• Maddie Blazey – 29 assists (No. 17 at SRU – needs 1 to move up to No. 15)
• Isabella Buono – 25 assists (No. 21 at SRU – needs 3 to move up to No. 20)
 
UPCOMING STAT MILESTONES FOR SRU
• Maddie Blazey: 19 points away from 75
• Isabella Buono: 12 goals away from 75
• Isabella Buono: 12 points away from 100
• Ava Dossier: 11 points away from 50
• Abby Fink: 15 points away from 100
• Abby Fink: 9 goals away from 75
• Abby Fink: 11 GB away from 50
• Paige Jenkins: 23 DC away from 175
• Paige Jenkins: 24 CT away from 100
• Paige Jenkins: 23 GB away from 100
• Erin Melcher: 11 points away from 50
• Reagan Richeson: 24 points away from 150
• Reagan Richeson: 16 goals away from 125
• Reagan Richeson: 0 GB away from 50
• Grace Rotter: 0 points away from 100 at SRU*
• Lily Ventresca: 4 GB away from 50
• Shannon Von Kaenel: 1 DC away from 125
* Rotter scored 33 points on 21 goals and 12 assists at Notre Dame College before transferring to SRU after the 2024 season
 
LANDER UNIVERSITY PRIMER
• Overall Record: 4-4
• SAC Record: 0-0
• Home Record: 3-1
• Away Record: 1-3
• Streak: W2
• Last Five Games: 3-2
• Head Coach: Bob Dachille (7th season, Wake Forest '07)  |  Record: 53-43
 
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Landed is a deceiving 4-4 overall with all four losses coming against teams currently ranked in the top 25. Three of those losses came against teams that were in the top 15 at the time of the game and two came against top five teams from Florida in Tampa and Florida Southern.
 
The Bearcats are being outscored 108-72 overall and outshot 231-167 through eight games, in part thanks to a 22-6 loss to defending national champion Tampa and a 16-3 loss to No. 2 Florida Southern. Opponents have also put up a 113-73 edge in the draw circle.
 
Caroline Nicholson leads the attack with 17 goals and four assists. Kylie Fragala is tied for the team point lead with 12 goals and nine assists and Morgan Hill is tied for the team lead with 17 goals. Kaia Morey leads the way with 15 draw controls, 20 caused turnovers and 22 ground balls, all team-highs.
 
Zoe Cotheran has started all eight games in goal and is 4-4 with a 13.77 goals against average and a .336 save percentage. Emersin Clamp has played 75 minutes in relief and owns a 12.04 goals against average and a .444 save percentage.
 
NEXT UP
Slippery Rock will fly practice in South Carolina for a few days before playing at Newberry College next Wednesday at 4 p.m. to wrap up the spring break trip. The Rock will then fly home next Thursday before opening PSAC play next Saturday at home against Gannon.




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