The Slippery Rock University field hockey team took on the no. 2 ranked Shippensburg Raiders Saturday afternoon. The Rock played a great game and almost pulled off the upset against the Raiders; however, a goal in the final minute of regulation allowed SU to seal the win.
Freshman Savanna Robinson scored SRU’s only goal. Senior Renee Rosenblum assisted on the goal. It was the first career goal for Robinson and it was Rosenblum’s first assist of 2016. Robinson tallied two shots on goal total, while senior Kailee Krupski and sophomore Allison Grant recorded one shot on goal apiece.
Junior goalkeeper Nicole Bream recorded seven saves and faced nine shots.
At 6:06, Robinson fired a shot but Raiders goalkeeper Ally Mooney saved it.
The Raiders scored first at 21:24 when Kylie Huffman scored off a penalty corner on an assist by Taylor Fisher and Brooke Zeiders. Shippensburg went up 1-0 and it was Huffman’s third goal on the season. Shipp took its 1-0 lead into the break. However, The Rock held the advantage in shots on goal for the first period, 3-1.
SRU came out of the break ready to score when at 35:39 Robinson tapped in the goal off of the assist by Rosenblum. The Rock goal snapped a five-game scoreless streak against SU dating back to 2013.
Slippery Rock had a chance to take the lead in the 45th minute when freshman Madison Krajewski fired a shot that was saved by Mooney, followed promptly by freshman Hannah Shirk also launching a shot, but it went high.
The Rock almost held out until the final minute, but with 14 seconds remaining in regulation, a loose ball in The Rock’s circle was played into the cage by Emily Barnard and it allowed SU to take a 2-1 lead en route to the win.
For the game, Shippensburg held advantages in shots on goal (9-5) and penalty corners (15-1).
Slippery Rock’s record drops to 4-8 on the season and 1-4 in the PSAC with the loss while Shippensburg improves to 12-1 overall and 5-0 in league play.
The Rock will remain on the road when it travels to Seton Hill University for a PSAC game 4 p.m. Wednesday.
