Slippery Rock played some tough defense Saturday afternoon, but only recorded four shots which was not enough to put them past the no. 8 ranked Kutztown University Golden Bears.
Senior Megan McKay, junior Haylee Underwood, sophomore Hannah Downing and freshman Savanna Robinson each recorded a shot for The Rock. Underwood had the lone shot on goal. Sophomore Liz Wolfe and senior Kayla Mack each registered two defensive saves and junior goalkeeper Nicole Bream recorded five saves.
SRU’s four defensive saves puts its season total at seven, which is second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) behind Mansfield (8). It’s the first time in 39 games that The Rock tallied four defensive saves. The last time was in a 2-1 win against East Stroudsburg during the 2014 season.
Slippery Rock nearly broke through early when Underwood put a shot on goal from the top of the center of Kutztown’s zone in the 13th minute, but KU goalkeeper Chardonnay Hope stopped the attempt.
Kutztown took the lead less than a minute later at 13:40 on a goal from Madison Stewart, which gave KU a 1-0 advantage.
The Golden Bears scored again on a penalty stroke in the 20th minute from Morgan Aldinger. Nine minutes later, Kutztown scored on a pass form Courtney Konowal that was deflected off of a Rock defender’s stick into the cage and put the Golden Bears up, 3-0. KU took its 3-0 lead into the break.
Kutztown fired five shots on goal in the second period, but was not able to score again. SRU almost got on the board in the 61st minute when Downing let a shot go, but a KU defender blocked it. Kutztown held on to its 3-0 lead throughout the second period en route to the win.
With the loss, SRU drops to 3-7 overall and 0-3 in conference play. The loss was The Rock’s fourth straight, all four coming against top 10 ranked opponents. SRU is 0-6 so far this season against ranked opponents and have not upset a ranked team since Septembler 2014 when the team beat then-no. 5 ranked East Stroudsburg University.
Slippery Rock will host Mansfield University Tuesday in its annual Corners for Cancer game at 4 p.m. at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
