On Friday, the Slippery Rock field hockey team suffered its first loss in conference play
against No. 5 Kutztown. Slippery Rock’s (2-5, PSAC 0-1) 4-0 loss to Kutztown (6-2, PSAC 1-0) came in the middle of a five-game homestand.
The scoring opened up five minutes in, when Kutztown’s Mackenzie Fuhrman scored off
a penalty corner taken by Leigh Roselli, who received an assist on the goal. Fuhrman returned the favor to Roselli 15 minutes later, when she assisted Fuhrman’s goal to extend the lead for Kutztown to 2-0.
“I think that we were outplayed and we didn’t play four quarters. I think we need to
believe in what we’re capable of no matter who the opponent is and just put four quarters of hard work together,” SRU head coach Julie Swiney said.
At the half, Kutztown had the edge in shots taken with eight to the Rock’s one, and had
taken five penalty corners while the Rock only one. The score at half also remained 2-0, and the Rock had committed 30 fouls compared to Kutztown’s 13.
Kutztown was unable to score a goal in the third quarter, but had four shots and six
penalty corners against the Rock. Kutztown held the Rock to no shots in the third quarter, and Slippery Rock also committed 18 fouls.
Kutztown didn’t score again until six minutes into the fourth quarter, when Roselli scored
her second goal of the game off an assist Alyssa Donato. They scored again less than a minute later as Abby Thorius beat goalkeeper Hannah Nurse for her first goal of the season.
In the fourth quarter, Kutztown took five shots and six penalty corners. The Rock was
held to one shot and one penalty corner in the fourth quarter. The Rock also committed 16 fouls in the fourth, and Kutztown committed 12.
“We definitly were able to execute some of the passing patterns we’ve been working on
in practice and I think that Hannah Nurse had a really great game in goal for us,” Swiney said.
The Rock was outshot by Kutztown in the game 17 to 2 and Kutztown had 15 shots on goal while the Rock only had one on goal. The Rock committed 64 fouls in the game, while Kutztown only committed 37. The Rock also only took two penalty corners, while giving Kutztown 17. Nurse was able to record 11 saves against Kutztown’s aggressive offense.
“[We can limit the number of penalty corners taken] by playing disciplined defense,
which we didn’t do,” Swiney said. The 17 penalty corners allowed by the Rock were the most they have allowed so far this season.
The Rock now trails in the all-time series against Kutztown 7-38 including a 4-19 record
at home. Slippery Rock plays #1 Millersville on Sunday and finishes out their homestand on Wednesday against IUP. The Rock will then have two away games before returning home for their senior day against East Stroudsburg University.
