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.