Slippery Rock, Pa. - Mercyhurst Field Hockey hit the road for a midweek matchup with the Rock on Wednesday afternoon with the Lakers dropping the contest. Mercyhurst kept things close throughout with some solid defense, but Slippery Rock found a way to score and take the game by a final of 1-0.
How it Happened
The first quarter went by with a whimper as neither team was able to score. The Rock was the more aggressive team in the opening canto with them firing off four shots to the Laker's zero. Kayla Desormeau and the Mercyhurst defense held strong on those four shots with the team collecting three saves.
The second period was more of the same with Slippery Rock able to claim the lead in shots again 4-1 with Mercyhurst's lone shot coming courtesy of Delfina Magro. The Lakers were able to claim a corner while the Rock didn't have any. Both teams made good runs at the cage as someone tried to claim the momentum going into the halftime break as the score held at 0-0.
The Lakers tried to keep pace with Slippery Rock during the third period and were able to do so. The Rock opened up the scoring coming out of the break with Bailee Christman getting the goal with Kayla Del Vecchio grabbing an assist. Two minutes later, Maddie Huffer scored her second goal of the year to tie things up 1-1 in the 44th minute of the game.
The fourth quarter was one that saw both teams battle to try and break the tie, but to no avail, as the game went into overtime. The first and second overtime cantos weren't enough either as the two teams bent but didn't break as the game went into a shootout 1-1.
The two teams lined up for the shootout with the Lakers putting their solid goalie, Kayla Desormeau, in the cage. She saved all but one shot during the Rock's turn while Slippery Rock goalie Grace Burker pitched the shutout to secure the win.
By the Numbers
The Lakers fired off their most shots in five games (9) with Maddie Huffer leading the way with three of them. Huffer scored the lone goal of the game for Mercyhurst for the second of her career with her first one coming against Wingate in the 4-3 win. The Lakers accumulated nine shots on the day while getting seven corners and 15 saves to their line.
What's Next
Mercyhurst comes home for their next game as they are set to host Kutztown on Saturday, October 29th, with the two teams set to begin at 5:00 p.m.
