After their six-game winning streak snapped, Slippery Rock Women’s Lacrosse rebounded with a dominant victory.
The streak may have ended, but the strong play has not.
The Rock forced overtime against No. 1 ranked Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) foe Seton Hill University. SRU gave all they had in an all-but-easy victory for the Griffins.
Senior Lauren Searles, along with her teammates, would not roll over in their back-and-forth contest.
Searles ripped off four goals including a natural hat-trick to propel her team back into the game in the fourth quarter.
With the game at nine to five, SRU appeared dead in the water until the teams second leading scorer scored the sixth, seventh and eighth for The Rock.
Slippery Rock went on to score three more after Searles rampage. Sadly, the Griffins would also answer and score two more of their own. One came at the end of regulation and the next in extra time.
SRU kept their spirits up as they focused on their next opponent, Gannon University.
Gannon and Slippery Rock have been on different tracks this season with Gannon sitting second to last in the PSAC while SRU sits second. The standings difference was evident in The Rock’s thrashing.
Searles did her thing once again, posting back-to-back hat tricks as she lit the lamp three times on five shots.
Despite the attacker’s strong performance, it was a different attacker stealing the show.
Leading scorer for the White and Green, Camryn Whipple took over the game with a five-point performance.
The Washington, PA. native found her way to five points through a two-goal, three-assist outing.
Of their 14 games overall thus far in 2023-24, Whipple has reached five points or more six times. The 5-foot-10 show-stopper has also posted a point or more in each contest this season.
Whipple and The Rock, fueled by vengeance, defeated Gannon by way of a 15 to four route.
This is the second time this year The Rock has been able to take care of Gannon by ten or more points.
With just three games remaining until the PSAC Tournament, Slippery Rock faces a set of mixed opponents.
First up is Indiana University of PA (IUP) who SRU narrowly defeated in overtime earlier this season. IUP is the highest-rated PSAC opponent remaining on The Rock’s schedule.
Following the Crimson Hawks is Edinboro who sit last in the PSAC. SRU nearly beat the Fighting Scots by 20 in this year’s first matchup between the two.
Finally, SRU will round out their regular season with Mercyhurst University who kept it close in an overtime victory for The Rock last time out. Mercyhurst will need to steal a win here and hope for plenty more to happen if they wish to secure a spot in the tournament.
Stay tuned for The Rock’s noon contest this Saturday from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium where they will look for all the support they can get.
