Field hockey winless in conference play

The Slippery Rock field hockey team was kept scoreless on Wednesday afternoon as they fell 0-3 to fellow PSAC school, Mercyhurst College.  Their record now stands at 1-7 overall, and 0-2 in PSAC-West competition.

Freshman Kaili Simmons and junior Gabrielle Malishchak were each credited with one shot a piece in the loss.

The Lakers outshot the Rock 6-2 and also held a 7-4 advantage in penalty corner kicks. Freshman goalie Allie Kirsch made three saves in goal.  

 Kirsch says there is a lot of pressure stepping into such a big position as a freshman.  

"Well, it's definitely tough," Kirsch said. "The pressure is really on, but I've got a great team and I know they all have my back, and that really helps the transition as a freshman."

Junior Teresa Elliott says that the season hasn't quite started the way they wanted, but they're making necessary changes to move closer to their playoff goal.

"We've gotten off to a rough start," said Elliott. "We're a young team with 14 freshmen, so it's taken us a while to get used to each other's style of play. Our season is far from over, though. We start PSAC-West competition this week, and hopefully we'll earn some wins and secure a spot in the playoffs, which has been our goal since the beginning of the season."

Head coach Julie Zoolkoski-Swiney is impressed with the efforts of the freshman class this year.

"It's a tough transition for the freshmen to make, but there are a handful of girls who are making solid contributions to the team, including the two freshmen goalies (Kirsch and Courtney Lee)," said Zoolkoski-Swiney.

Coach Zoolkoski-Swiney says that the team has been making many adjustments and improvements to prepare for their upcoming matches.

"We've been working on team unity and growing together as a team," Zoolkoski-Swiney said. "We've just been pounding away at the basics and trying to bring it all together to score goals."

The Rock hopes to pick up their first PSAC-West victory of the season today as they take on Seton Hill at home.

The Green and White wil also look for its first goal in its past four games as it has been outscored 14-0 in those games and given up 25 goals on the season, compared to scoring only six goals this year.