ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The ninth-ranked Slippery Rock University field hockey team maintained its undefeated record in 2026 following a 6-1 victory Tuesday at Roberts Wesleyan University.
The win improves The Rock's record to 5-0, while the host Redhawks drop to 2-3. Slippery Rock has now won its opening five games of the season for the first time since 1976. Additionally, SRU's current five-game winning streak is tied for the longest in program history.
Tuesday's win saw a plethora of Rock athletes register goals or assists, led by
Lucy Hutchinson's three-goal, one-assist performance. Hutchinson is the first Rock athlete to score three or more goals in a game since Gianna Conti had four goals against D'Youville in 2024.
In extending her consecutive games with a goal streak to five, Hutchinson increased her season point tally to 21 on nine goals and three assists. Hutchinson's nine goals are already the most by a Rock athlete since Jessie Trube scored 10 goals over the entire 2021 season. Hutchinson's seven points represents the fifth highest single-game total in program history.
Joining Hutchinson with goals Tuesday was the trio of
Roz Mikulak,
Coral Piramo and
Delaney Evans. Piramo's goal was her fourth of the season while Mikulak and Evans both found the back of the cage for the first time in 2026. Mikulak also assisted on one goal for the three-point night.
Rounding out The Rock's point scorers in the victory were
Riley Cloude with two assists and
Hilary Hoffman with one assist as well.
As has been the case for the entirety of 2026, shots were plentiful for Slippery Rock as SRU totaled 23 shots on goal. Hutchinson accounted for seven of the attempts on target followed by Piramo (6), Mikulak (3), Cloude (2), Hoffman (2), Evans (1),
Haylie Sucharski (1) and
Grace Williams (1).
Defensively, Slippery Rock limited Roberts Wesleyan to just seven attempts and three penalty corners.
SRU used all three rostered goalkeepers Tuesday. Starter
Sam Black made one save before giving way to freshman
Rylee Catterton in the third quarter. Catterton stopped one shot in her collegiate debut that lasted just under a quarter.
Leah Riegling played the final 15 minutes, making four stops.
Slippery Rock concluded the game holding advantages over Roberts Wesleyan in total shots (26-7), shots on goal (23-7) and penalty corners (12-3).
While Slippery Rock controlled possession for the near duration of the first quarter without even allowing a ball to be played near Black, Roberts Wesleyan goalie Avery Richardson turned away two attempts by Hutchinson and another from Piramo to send the game into the second quarter still locked in a 0-0 tie.
However, the scoreless draw lasted just 22 seconds into the second quarter as Hoffman weaved her way through traffic to find Hutchinson, who proceeded to put home her seventh goal of 2026 to give SRU the 1-0 advantage. The Rock added to their lead two minutes later.
After successfully clearing the Redhawks' first penalty corner of the day, Mikulak sent an ariel pass across midfield to Williams who in turn found Hutchinson streaking down the near side. Hutchinson then centered a pass in the middle of the circle to Piramo, who slipped a shot past Richardson and gave SRU a 2-0 lead with 12 minutes to play in the first half.
RWU cut into The Rock's lead in the 23rd minute when Jade Moncada finished off a successful Redhawk penalty corner to break up the shutout and pull Roberts Wesleyan to within one goal at 2-1.
Not to be outdone, Slippery Rock quickly made good on its own penalty corner in the 26th minute as Cloude took the insert pass from Hutchinson to set up Mikulak, who ended the sequence with her first goal of 2026, pushing SRU's lead back out to two goals at 3-1 with four minutes left in the half.
Slippery Rock tacked on another goal 32 seconds prior to the halftime break off another penalty corner as Hutchinson was left unmarked on the far side of the cage and was able to deflect in her second goal of the game uncontested on a Mikulak pass.
SRU headed into halftime holding a 4-1 lead. The Rock's four goals in the second quarter were tied for the second most goals scored in a period inside the program since the implementation of NCAA field hockey's four 15-minute quarter system in 2019. Slippery Rock has now outscored its opponents 15-2 in the first two quarters of games this season.
The second half saw Hutchinson cap off her first collegiate hat trick on another Cloude assist 74 seconds into the third quarter, with Evans clocking her first collegiate goal at 34:44.
Slippery Rock maintained its five-goal advantage through the remainder of the game for the victory behind five total saves from Catterton and Riegling.
Slippery Rock next heads to Maryville University for back-to-back games Saturday (noon) and Sunday (11 a.m.).
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