The Slippery Rock University lacrosse team (2-4) lost to Seton Hill University in Double overtime on Tuesday night 14-13.
Seton Hill fended off a late surge from the Rock, who scored seven unanswered goals late in the second half to take a 12-11 lead. Seton Hill tied it up with 4:52 to play, and a 12-12 score carried over into OT. Kaytlin Callaghan’s goal 48 seconds into the first OT gave the Rock the lead, and it looked like they were going to put the game away, until the Griffins scored to force a second OT with just 38 seconds left.
The Griffins dominated the second OT and never lost possession. They finally put SRU away with their goal with 1:59 left.
SRU senior Paige Costantino led The Rock with seven points, coming off of four goals and three assists. Callaghan scored five goals in the game, all coming in the final 14 minutes of regulation and OT, with four of those coming in the seven goal stretch by the Rock in the second half.
Erin Wilcox and Jasey Sanders each scored two goals. The last point scorer for the Rock was Caitlynn Palladino, who had one assist.
Jordan Wagner may have had her best game of the season in the net for the Rock, recording 13 saves.
Costantino said there was a lot of mixed emotions in the locker room after the game. It was a heartbreaking loss for this club, but Costantino said this team showed some maturity, and instead of just wallowing in the loss they tried to take out of the positives.
“Scoring seven points consecutively within the last 15 minutes of the game proved to us that we have what it takes to win,” Costantino said. “We just need to turn that fire and intensity on sooner in the game.”
SRU head coach Emily Hopkins echoed Costantino’s comments and said that she saw the heart her team showed to make the comeback and try and win the game.
“It was a devastating loss for this team,” Coach Hopkins said. “However, we realized the potential we have against a good team like this. If we continue to play like we did against Seton Hill, we will win more games and not need overtime to do it.”
To turn this season around the Rock will need to make some improvements. According to Hopkins, the biggest thing needed is to play from the first whistle. She said the team keeps coming out flat early on and it is costing them. Costantino feels the same way her coach does.
“If we continue to work hard, things will definitely fall into place,” Costantino said. “We just need to start with more fire and intensity.”
The Rock has two more Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference games this week, hosting West Chester University on Friday and Shippensburg University on Saturday.
