Slippery Rock fell short to East Stroudsburg University on Friday afternoon 0-2 in the PSAC semifinals at host school Gannon University.
The Rock started the game with a strong offensive front, taking four shots in the first 25 minutes. East Stroudsburg stepped up their game, however, in the remainder of the first half before scoring off a cross and header combination in the 43rd minute.
After the first half, East Stroudsburg scored their second and final goal in the 56th minute after beating freshman keeper Charlotte Elrod.
Slippery Rock had multiple scoring attempts in the last 30 minutes of the game, but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net. Standout junior forward Dara Demich had a game-high eight shots. Four of those shots were out of the team’s six shots on goal. Sophomore midfielder Tess Keeley, freshman forward Skye Kramer, and junior defender Sam Thorton each added another two shots for green.
“We didn’t play any differently. They were just a very good team. We had a shot hit the crossbar, we hit the post, we put the ball just wide on a breakaway, their keeper made a really great save at the very end. We had an unlucky day, but they were a very good team.” said head coach Griggs.
Offensively, green held many statistical advantages over the Warriors. The Rock led in corner kicks 4-1, and had 16 shots compared to the Warriors’ 12. Slippery Rock also only had six fouls called against them, while East Stroudsburg had 12.
During halftime, Megan Lenzi, a junior defender and physical education major was decorated as the 2015 PSAC Champion Women’s Soccer Champion Scholar. She boasts a cumulative grade point average of 4.0 and has taken 75 credits thus far at Slippery Rock. She had the highest GPA of all four teams competing in the PSAC women’s soccer semi-finals.
East Stroudsburg became the eventual winner of the PSAC tournament on Sunday, with a 2-1 victory over Edinboro University.
Unfortunately, the Rock’s overall record of 13-6-1 and ranking of #6 in the NCAA region standings did not land them a place in the NCAA tournament. The Rock will return next year for their spring season.
“We’re returning a great group of players. So we have 21 players returning, and we’re only losing three seniors. Of course those three seniors were very impactful, but I think the returning players are ready to go,” head coach Griggs said.
