The Slippery Rock University’s women’s field hockey team picked up its first win in PSAC play last Saturday at Vonnie Grass Field against the number 3 ranked West Chester University Golden Rams by a score of four to three.
West Chester started off the game with a goal by senior McKenzie Milkvy six minutes and eight seconds into the game. Slippery Rock later tied the game up with a goal by freshman Kayla Ulrich 26 minutes and 48 seconds into the game, Ulrich’s sixth goal of the season. That left the game tied one to one at the end of the first period.
West Chester took the lead back early in the second period until Slippery Rock tied the score at two apiece just 24 seconds later. West Chester would end up taking the lead back when senior Rachel Toppi scored her eighth goal of the season. That made the score three to two with ten minutes and 39 seconds remaining.
Slippery Rock tied the score at three even when junior Allison Grant scored a goal a little over four minutes later. That was Grant’s first goal of the season. With only two minutes and 53 seconds remaining, senior Kailee Krupski scored the game-winning goal.
Despite registering 16 goals on net, West Chester did not do enough to beat The Rock. Slippery Rock, on the other hand, recorded only seven shots on net, meaning more than half of their shots were goals. Goalkeepers for The Rock, Maddie Murphy, a freshman, and Nicole Bream, a senior, accounted for 13 saves together. Bream had nine saves in over 55 minutes of time played and Murphy had four saves in a little less than 15 minutes played.
West Chester’s goalkeeper junior Marissa Elizardo stayed in net the entire game.
Other notable statistics from the game were that the Golden Rams had two players, Rachel Toppi and junior Kaitlin Hatch, record five shots. For The Rock, only Kayla Ulrich recorded five shots. Only three other players on Slippery Rock attempted shots while West Chester had eight players attempt shots. Out of those eight players, two recorded three shots while two recorded two shots and two more players for the Golden Rams recorded one shot.
The Rock also committed 15 fouls while West Chester committed just two fouls. West Chester also had a heavy lead in penalty corners (17-2)penalty corners.
Slippery Rock improved to 6-3 (1-0) on the season while West Chester’s record fell to five and two (0-1)