The Rock cruises to victory over Gannon

The Rock cruises to victory over Gannon

Slippery Rock lacrosse inches closer to a spot in the PSAC playoffs for the first time since 2018

By Ryan Mosher

ERIE, Pa. (April 24, 2024) ­— Slippery Rock University lacrosse traveled to Erie, Pa. on Wednesday to play the Gannon University Golden Knights in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup.

Slippery Rock entered the day with a 10-2 overall record, and a 7-2 record in PSAC play. SRU had a 5-2 record away from home. Both of The Rock’s conference losses came at the hands of Seton Hill University.

The Golden Knights held a 4-10 record overall, while going 2-7 in PSAC action. Gannon featured a 3-3 record in home contests. Coming into the game, the all-time series record between Slippery Rock and Gannon was deadlocked at 10-10.

Camryn Whipple, the senior, had two goals and five points to move into tenth place in the all-time single season points list for SRU with 61. Lauren Searles and Reagan Richeson both had hat tricks, the twelfth and fourth of their respective careers.

Syndey Ulmer, Erin Melcher, Rachel Mahoney, Brooke Wisniewski and Eryn Little all also found the back of the net for The Rock. Ulmer and Melcher scored two goals apiece, while Mahoney, Wisniewski and Little scored once.

The game did not start well for Slippery Rock as they saw an early 1-0 deficit when McKenna Woodworth put the Golden Knights ahead. The Rock then scored four of the next five goals courtesy of Melcher, Little and two goals from Whipple to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.

SRU would continue their run in the second quarter where they scored five goals to take a 9-2 lead into halftime.

After SRU’s seventh goal, Gannon decided to make a goaltending change and replaced Riley Finnegan with Haliegh Manning.

The Rock would put the game clock into running time when they gained a 13-3 lead with one minute and 20 seconds left in the third quarter. In college lacrosse, when a lead reaches the 10-goal mark, the clock will continue running until the opposing team can cut the deficit to below 10 goals.

The clock would stay running for the remainder of the game as Slippery Rock added on two more goals before Woodworth scored her second of the game to close out the scoring and a 15-4 Slippery Rock victory.

Looking ahead to SRU’s next matchup, against Indiana University (Pa.), there are three milestones that are within reach. After reaching one milestone in this game, Camryn Whipple has a chance for another. Whipple needs two assists to break the all-time single season assist record at SRU with 37.

Charliegh Rondeau needs 11 draw controls to reach the career mark of 500. The next highest mark for SRU is Lauren Laubach with 271.

Goaltender Gillian O’Rourke needs four ground balls to break the career record of 166 at SRU set by Emily Bitka.

Slippery Rock will look to clinch a spot in the PSAC playoffs for the first time since 2018 with a win against rival IUP on Senior Day, Saturday April 27, 2024.

Whipple’s rise to the top

Whipple’s rise to the top

Senior lacrosse star Camryn Whipple on the cusp of Slippery Rock history

By Ryan Mosher

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. (May 1, 2024) — Camryn Whipple is a senior attacker for Slippery Rock University’s (SRU) lacrosse team. Whipple entered the top 10 list for single season points at SRU after her five-point performance in a 15-4 victory against Gannon University.

The Washington, Pa. native arrived at Slippery Rock prior to the 2021 season and appeared in nine games while amassing three points in her freshman year. Whipple appeared in every game in her sophomore season and totaled 26 points in 17 games.

Whipple’s junior season is where she saw her first start. She started 12 of the 16 games on the schedule and collected 37 points.

In each of Whipple’s first three seasons, she had more goals than assists. However, this season Whipple’s assist numbers have risen tremendously. The senior has 36 assists in 15 games played. Whipple credits her teammates for her increase in assists.

“Just 100% my teammates. Everyone is a great option, so I just attribute all of that to my teammates,” Whipple said.

The senior also credits her vision and the relationships with her teammates for her success. The relationship that the whole attacking unit developed has allowed them to grow and thrive on the offensive end of the field.

“I would have to say just my vision, being able to assist. That is something I take a lot of pride in is just being unselfish and being able to dish the ball to my teammates, but like I said assists don’t happen without having great cutters like Brooke Wisniewski and Lauren Searles cutting to balls and getting open and making my job easy,” Whipple said.

Whipple has many supporters, but her parents have always been her number one fans.

“Probably just my parents honestly. They just always give me the encouragement I need every single day to just go and chase my dreams and go after what I want. Something that my mom always told me ‘nothing worth having ever comes easy’ and that just kind of always drives me to be better because there is a lot of ups and downs playing a college sport, but that just always reminds me to go out and work for what I want and don’t stop until what I am working for comes true,” Whipple said.

Whipple’s work ethic and mindset have helped guide her to this milestone. The attacker is also one assist away from tying the school’s single season assist record with 37.

Whipple has a sister that also attended Slippery Rock University, but that was a coincidence and was never the original plan for the two siblings.

“It is a funny story because that was like never meant to happen, we never meant to come to college together. She is two years older than me. She actually started off her college career at Penn State Behrend. She played soccer and then she just decided to transfer to Slippery Rock, so that was like never meant to happen. I actually committed my junior year to go to Slippery Rock before she was even going to come here. That was just a coincidence that it happened like that, but we were together my freshman year which was super fun,” Whipple said.

Similar to the relationship with her sister, the whole SRU team possesses that bond and it has allowed them to grow and thrive on both ends of the field.

“It is really awesome, I think our attackers and our middies all together are just such a unit on the field and I think that really shows with our team in general. We are really close on and off the field, so I think when we have those relationships off the field it just translates and makes us so much stronger, but I truly feel so lucky like I feel like day one of freshman year I had 30 best friends and it has just been amazing, especially these seniors now, we just went through these four years together, got so close. I mean we all spend everyday together, so just building those relationships has been really special,” Whipple said.

That bond has led The Rock to a 12-win season so far, which ties the school record, and they have at least two more chances to break the record with games against Edinboro University, who they have never lost to, and Mercyhurst University, who they defeated 8-7 in overtime earlier this season.

“We always say like make history and I think that this really is our year to do it,” Whipple said.

This team has already made some history as they have clinched a home playoff game in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs, which The Rock have not been to since 2018.