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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's lacrosse team put forth a valiant comeback before dropping a 13-10 decision to No. 8 Gannon Tuesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action at Thompson Stadium.

Gannon (4-1, 1-0 PSAC) led 7-2 at halftime before The Rock (2-1, 0-1 PSAC) came out firing in the second half, scoring five unanswered goals to tie the game at 7-7. The teams traded goals until the score was tied at 10-10 and then Gannon won the final four draw controls of the game, converting on three possessions, to come away with the win.

Amy Halls scored three goals to lead the way for SRU, while Alexis Slutsky and Ariel Knox each scored two goals and handed out one assist.

Morgan Pettit, Casey Quinn and Katie Roof all registered one goal for The Rock.

Gannon was led by Mary Eshenhour with five goals and one assist. Jess Fugate added three goals and two assists and Sarah Grzybinski chipped in three goals.

Margaret Maslyn earned the win in net after allowing 10 goals and recording eight saves, all of which came in the first half. Kat Elkins took the loss for The Rock, allowing 13 goals and stopping seven shots.

Gannon finished the game with slim advantages in shots (25-21), ground balls (20-18) and draw controls (14-12) and was 9-of-10 on clear attempts. Slippery Rock was 10-of-19 in clear attempts.

Eshenhour scored the game's first goal, unassisted, in the fifth minute and added a second on a free position attempt in the ninth minute to put the visitors up 2-1.

Halls put Slippery Rock on the board in the 14th minute when she converted off an assist from Emma VanDenburg to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Gannon answered with three goals in a stretch of 1:30, with Eshenhour scoring her third and fourth of the game and Caitlyn Fisher putting her squad up 5-2 with 14:04 to play before halftime.

Halls notched her second just 20 seconds later on a free position attempt to make it 5-2, but Gannon answered back again with two more goals to take a 7-2 lead into the halftime intermission.

Shots on goal were even at 10-10 in the first 30 minutes, but Gannon's Maslyn made eight saves to keep her team out in front.

The Rock opened the second half with a five goal spurt that took just 5:53, tying the game at 7-7 with 24:07 to play. The five goals were all scored by different players, with Pettit, Quinn, Knox, Slutsky and Roof all finding the back of the net.

Gannon prevented SRU from getting the lead when Grzybinski notched back-to-back goals to put the visitors back on top, 9-7, with 21:05 to play.

Halls and Slutsky answered that 2-0 push with their own 2-0 run to notch the game at 9-9 with 13:45 to play. Again, Gannon prevented the hosts from claiming a lead when Fugate scored one minute later.

Knox would tie the game again, this time at 10-10, when she scored off an assist from Slutsky with 12:12 to play.

From there, Gannon won four consecutive draw controls, scoring goals on three of those possessions, to take a 13-10 lead with 5:50 to play.

Slippery Rock forced two turnovers in the final 5:50, but could not successfully clear the zone and did not get a shot attempt off. The Golden Knights won the ball back on a turnover with 2:39 to play and were able to work the perimeter and maintain possession to run out the clock.

Tuesday's game was the first PSAC game for both Gannon and Slippery Rock as they open play in the newly formatted single division conference setup. All teams in the PSAC will play once, with the top six records advancing to the playoffs.

The Rock will now hit the road for back-to-back PSAC games against nationally-ranked opponents, first traveling to No. 7 Mercyhurst Thursday and then making the trip to No. 6 West Chester Saturday.