GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team took No. 1/2 West Chester University to halftime tied at 5-5 before the undefeated Golden Rams pulled away in the second half for a 14-6 win in the semifinal round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament Friday from Seton Hill University.
 
West Chester improves to 18-0 on the season and 40-1 over the last two years to advance to the PSAC title game Sunday against Kutztown. Slippery Rock slips to 15-4 on the year and will now wait to see if that record is enough to land The Rock an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in program history. SRU was ranked No. 5 in the regional rankings this week, but picked up a win over Lock Haven in the PSAC quarterfinals and lost to the top-ranked team in the region in the semifinals. The Rock's 15 wins are the second most in the region behind West Chester's 18. The NCAA will announce the tournament field Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. in a selection show on NCAA.com.
 
If Slippery Rock is left out of the tournament, Friday's semifinal would mark the final game in an historic season for the program. The Rock set a new program record for single-season wins with 15 victories, earned the right to host the first home playoff game in program history and reached the conference semifinals for the first time. SRU also saw numerous players set season and career records throughout the year and celebrated a senior class and coaching staff that lifted the program to new heights.
 
The Rock put a scare into West Chester Friday by scoring three straight goals in the first quarter to jump out to a 3-1 lead after the first period. SRU led 4-2 and 5-4 in the second quarter before West Chester tied the game at 5-5 heading into halftime.
 
Things fell apart for Slippery Rock in the third quarter, when turnovers in the offensive zone killed momentum and sparked an offensive surge for West Chester. The Rock turned it over on eight straight possessions in the offensive zone, failing to get a shot off for most of the quarter against one of the best defenses in the country. West Chester outshot SRU 11-1 in the period and turned that into a 6-0 scoring run to open an 11-5 lead heading to the fourth, a margin SRU would never recover from.
 
Slippery Rock posted a 14-10 edge in draw controls, while West Chester put up advantages of 35-18 in shots, 27-17 in ground balls and 18-11 in caused turnovers. The Rock were 18-of-24 on clear attempts with the Golden Rams going 23-of-26 on the clear.
 
Eryn Little scored two goals and Lauren Searles and Camryn Whipple both tallied one goal and one assist. Reagan Richeson and Brooke Wisniewski each scored one goal to round out the point scorers for SRU. Charleigh Rondeau, who was named the PSAC Champion Scholar award winner, finished with a game-high 11 draw controls to extend her single-season record to 190 draw controls this spring and her SRU career record to 550 draw controls.
 
Hailey Ohlsen led the defense with four caused turnovers and four ground balls and Gillian O'Rourke made 10 saves in goal.
 
West Chester was paced by Amanda Wolfe with two goals and two assists and a pair of hat tricks from Hannah Stanislawczyk and Kendall Fortune. Jessica Gorr made nine saves in the game, including seven in the first half to keep the game tied at the break.
 
Slippery Rock will now wait to find out the NCAA Tournament selections Sunday evening to find out if Friday marked the end of the season or if the team will play in the Atlantic Regional of the NCAA Tournament next weekend.
 
 
 
 
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