The Slippery Rock University women’s soccer team will enter the 2016 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Women’s Soccer Playoffs with the no. 5 seed. The women, coming off a 10-7-1 regular season record (10-5-1 in the PSAC), will take on East Stroudsburg University, Tuesday, to take on the no. 4 Warriors (13-4-1 overall and 12-3-1 in the PSAC) in hopes for an upset.
Rock head coach Jessica Griggs will hope to get past the Warriors this time in the playoffs as Slippery Rock fell to East Stroudsburg last season in the semi-finals of the PSAC playoffs, 2-0. The Warriors then went on to beat Edinboro in the championship with a final score of 2-1.
During the regular season, The Rock and East Stroudsburg met once, with the final outcome being a stalemate. Slippery Rock senior Dara Demich tallied the only goal for The Rock while the Warriors’ Shea Neal recorded her team’s only goal. The stalemate was the first and only for either team during the regular season.
The Rock will have to go up against East Stroudsburg’s Alex Pickett. Pickett, a true freshman for the Warriors, led the PSAC with 12 goals in 14 games played during the regular season. Pickett, in her 14th games played, also led the PSAC with five game-winning goals. Junior Jules Harris figures to be the starting goalkeeper for the Warriors in the playoffs. In 18 games played for East Stroudsburg, Harris had seventy-five saves while allowing ten goals, which is good for a .822 save percentage.
Hoping to lead her team to gold for The Rock is senior All-American forward Dara Demich. Demich, after starting the first nine games of the season without scoring a goal, went on a hot streak in the final stretch of the season, finishing with a team-leading five goals, four assists, and fourteen points. Juniors Maddy Tletski and Tess Keeley also figure to contribute significantly if The Rock is to be successful. During the regular season, Tletski and Keeley finished with a combined total of seven goals, two assists, and sixteen points.
Slippery Rock sophomore, Kylie Downs, will continue to be the starting goalkeeper for the Green and White. Downs, in her first full season as The Rock’s starting goalie, finished with 1.073 goals against average percentage, which was good for eighth place among PSAC goalies. Downs also finished with a .313 shots to goal percentage, which was good for fifth place.
Due to East Stroudsburg finishing with a better record and being placed in a higher seed, Slippery Rock will have to travel to EIiler-Martin Stadium in East Stroudsburg to take on the Warriors. The match is set to begin at 1 p.m.
The winner of the Slippery Rock-East Stroudsburg matchup will take on the winner of the West Chester-Indiana (Pa.) matchup.
