Slippery Rock University Athletics

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The fourth ranked Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team saw its historic season come to an end with a 9-6 loss to No. 13 Kutztown University in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament Saturday from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock close the year with an incredible 20-1 overall record that included a perfect 17-0 regular season and a victory over Kutztown to claim the first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title in program history. SRU set a new single-season program record for wins for the third straight year after winning 15 games in 2024 and 18 games in 2025. Kutztown improves to 16-6 overall and advances to the quarterfinal round to face East Stroudsburg next week.
 
Slippery Rock struggled to find a rhythm to its game Saturday with Kutztown's style of play creating a low scoring, sloppy game for both teams. The teams combined for 17 cards and 45 turnovers while tallying just 42 total shot attempts. SRU finished with advantages of 25-17 in shots, 18-15 in shots on goal, 9-8 in draw controls and 23-9 in ground balls.
 
Kutztown led 4-3 at halftime and extended the lead to 5-3 early in the third quarter before Slippery Rock swung momentum back in its favor with a 3-0 run to take a 6-5 lead with 9:00 to play in the third.
 
The Rock gave the momentum back however, with a pair of unforced turnovers and repeated penalty cards. KU scored a free position that was essentially a man-up goal right as a card expired and added one more late in the third to take a 7-6 lead into the fourth.
 
Slippery Rock took five minutes of penalty cards in the fourth quarter and failed to score any goals despite outshooting Kutztown 9-4 in the period as the visitors held on for the win.
 
Grace Rotter set a new SRU single-season record for points with two goals and two assists to give her 90 points on the year, passing the former record of 88 that was set by Emily Benham. Caitlyn Kelly added two goals as the only other SRU player with multiple points. Both Rotter and Kelly finished with three caused turnovers as well.
 
Isabella Buono and Reagan Richeson each scored one goal to cap the point scorers. Richeson's goal marked her 70th of the season, making her the only player in program history to reach 70 goals in a season.
 
Paige Jenkins paced the defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls, while Mckenzie Murphy added three caused turnovers as well. Lily Ventresca took her first loss of the season in goal after allowing nine goals and recording six saves. Ava Drath played the final 6:29 and did not face any shots on target.
 
Kutztown got three goals from Madison Wenner and 12 saves from Marisa Bragg.
 
Slippery Rock will carry high expectations into the offseason with most of the team set to return, including all eight of its All-PSAC honorees, 10 of the top 11 scorers on the team, the entire starting defense, the starting goalkeeper and one of the top draw specialists in the country.
 
The Rock will part with just five seniors in Sydney Ulmer, Erin Melcher, Maddie Blazey, Ella Koslowski and Ava Drath. They are the winningest senior class in program history with 63 wins over the last four seasons, including a 38-4 overall record during their final two seasons.





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