Women's soccer gains bid to national tournament

The 22nd-ranked Slippery Rock women's soccer team received the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Region when they were chosen to play in the 2011 NCAA Division II tournament on Monday night for the second consecutive year.

The Rock (14-4-2) will take on No. 6 Alderson-Broaddus College (11-6-3) this afternoon at Kutztown University. The opening round game is set to kick off at 1 p.m.

The winner of the game will move on to the second round and take on Kutztown this coming Sunday.

California University of Pa., Kutztown University, Edinboro University, West Chester University and Alderson-Broaddus College were among the other teams in the Atlantic Region that also made the bracket with SRU.

This year marks the second consecutive season and the seventh overall NCAA tournament berth for the team under head coach Noreen Herlihy.

Freshman forward Lucy Hannon is proud of how the team is doing and isn't ready for the season to be over yet.

"Overall, it's been a great season so far, we just don't want it to end yet," Hannon said.  

Last Friday, the Rock suffered a tough 4-0 loss to Kutztown in the PSAC semifinals.

With the win, Kutztown advanced to the championship game, only to lose to Cal U. on Saturday by a score of 2-1.

The Golden Bears held a 16-10 advantage over the Rock in total shots and an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal, but SRU led 5-4 in corner kicks.

Sophomore Kara Mullins, who leads the team with 10 goals and three assists for the season, led the Rock's offense with three shots, while junior Shelby Ward and senior Alyssa Barrett each added two shots.

Senior goalie Lisa Rodgers, who leads the PSAC with a .870 save percentage, finished the game with seven saves.

Friday's game marked the first goal scored on the Rock since the team's 1-0 loss to Kutztown back on Sept. 24. It ended the 11-game shutout streak for the Rock, which ties for fifth all-time in Division II history.

Junior defender Emer Flately is hoping to get the chance to avenge their loss to Kutztown on Sunday.

"The game today is extremely important to us," Flatley said. "We really want to beat Alderson-Broaddus, and then get that rematch with Kutztown. We're not going to lose for the third time in a row."

In addition to making the playoffs as another post-season accomplishment, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference named six members of the team to All-Conference honors on Thursday.

Flately and Ward were each named to first team All-PSAC, while Mullins was named to second team All-Conference and Rodgers, Hannon and sophomore Izabel Scott were named to the third team.

This marked the second consecutive All-PSAC honor for Flately and Mullins, while the other four athletes are first time selections of the conference honor.