The Slippery Rock University women’s lacrosse team earned its first win over Indiana University of Pa. in program history, and perhaps the biggest upset of the season last Thursday by a score of 18-13 at Milhalik-Thompson Stadium.
The Rock dominated the end of the game, winning seven of the last nine draw controls and going on a 7-1 run during the final 15 minutes of play.
Slippery Rock snapped Indiana’s eight game winning streak and handed them their first conference loss of the season. The Rock entered last Thursday’s game 0-9 in the all-time series between the rivals.
Senior Emma VanDenburg said that the win has been the most exciting victory for the team this year.
“We have been talking about this game all year,” VanDenburg said. “We couldn’t wait to play them and show them how good we are. It feels awesome to finally beat them!”
With the win, SRU improved to 6-4 overall and 3-4 in league play, while No. 12 IUP dropped to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in PSAC action.
The Rock had a 36-34 advantage over the Crimson Hawks in total shots, 28-25 in shots on goal, 25-21 in ground balls, and a crucial 20-13 advantage in draw controls.
Leading the Green and White was sophomore midfielder Lauren Laubach with six goals, one assist, and four draw controls.
Senior Amy Halls scored three goals and had a career-high eight draw controls. Senior Casey Quinn had four goals and one assist. Joining her classmates was VanDenburg, who added one goal and handed out three assists. Sophomore Morgan Pettit contributed one goal and passed for two assists to wrap up the multi-point scorers for the Rock.
Junior Holly Webb, sophomore Brittany Jaillet, and senior Katie Roof each scored one goal apiece.
Junior goalie Natalie Crenshaw earned the win for the Rock with 12 saves.
The score was tied 2-2 during the opening minutes of the game before Laubach and Halls scored one goal apiece to give the Rock a 4-2 edge with 16:05 to play in the first period.
Both teams scored to put SRU up 5-3 before IUP went on a 3-0 run to take a 6-5 lead with a little over four minutes to play in the first half.
SRU scored two quick goals to put them up 7-6 with 21 seconds left in the half, but IUP stormed down the field and scored to send the teams to the locker rooms tied up, 7-7.
Coming back from the break, the Crimson Hawks got off to a 9-8 lead with 25:39 to play. The Green and White took a three goal run to take a 11-9 lead with less than twenty four minutes to play, before Indiana answered with three goals of their own to steal back the lead, 12-11 with 17:22 left to play.
The score went back and forth the entire game, seeing nine ties during the first 45 minutes of the game, but during those final 15 minutes, the Rock took control of the game, sparked by a game-tying goal by Roof with 14:16 left on the clock.
The Green and White never looked back, as they went on a 7-1 run for the remainder of the game.
IUP scored their only goal during the final stretch of the game with 1:34 left to play.
Laubach put the game away with nine seconds on the clock, scoring her sixth goal of the game.
After a lengthy break, the Rock is back in action tomorrow afternoon at Kutztown University for a 1 p.m. PSAC matchup.
They will continue the weekend’s action on Sunday as they travel to Shepherd University for another 1 p.m. game.
