Box Score
MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Slippery Rock field hockey team's comeback attempt came up just short on Friday afternoon as Mansfield was able to hold off a late SRU rally and earn a 5-4 victory.
Freshman Kaitlin McGinnis scored a career-high two goals in the losing effort. Sophomore Gabrielle Malishchak and junior Brittany Schultz also added goals for The Rock. McGinnis and Malishchak also led The Rock (1-8, 0-3 PSAC-West) with three shots on goal each. Senior Katie Krouse joined the trio of Rock goal scorers with one shot on goal as well.
Senior goalie Lisa Belcastro took the loss for SRU after making 11 saves and allowing all five Mansfield goals.
Mansfied (3-5, 2-0 PSAC-West) opened up the game on fire; scoring two goals in the first half before adding another just four minutes into the second half to take what seemed like a commanding 3-0 lead.
However, Slippery Rock refused to go away quietly, At the 45:32 mark in the second half, Schultz scored SRU's first goal of the match off of a penalty corner to cut the lead down to 3-1. The score was the second of Schultz's career.
Malishchak would keep The Rock's momentum flowing 13 minutes later when she put a well placed shot past Mansfield's diving goalie, Kristie Rollman, to make it just a one-score game at 3-2.
Taryn Schawillie, who also scored MU's first two goals of the game, answered back less than three minutes later (61:09) with a goal to put Mansfield up 4-2 and give herself a hat-trick. But Slippery Rock had one more surge left in them.
With just 7:34 left to play in regulation, McGinnis scored an unassisted goal when she rocketed the ball in between the goalie's legs to pull The Rock within one (4-3). 1:17 later, McGinnis found the back of the cage for the second time on the day, and fourth time on the season, to tie the game at 4-4 with 5:34 left to play in the game.
However, thoughts of a comeback-win were put to rest when Ashley Bronston scored her first goal of the year for Mansfield in the 67th minute to put MU up for good 5-4.
Mansfield held 23-13 and 16-11 advantages in shots and corners respectively.
Slippery Rock will be back in action 12:00 p.m. Saturday at Bloomsburg.
