Gabrielle Malishchak West record, marking the first .500 finish in the conference standings since 1991. Entering the fall of 2012, with Malishchak, Banks and Bathurst set to begin their senior seasons, the goals were set again: keep building, improve, get back to the playoffs. Those goals would be blown away by what the team would go on to accomplish. The Rock tore out of the gates with three straight wins in convincing fashion. Although the official records will never show it, the team was poised to be 4-0 before a lightning storm canceled a game against Mercy College that Slippery Rock was dominating, 4-0 in the first half. Then came the first real test of the season, a road trip to No. 1 Shippensburg, a team that had beat Slippery Rock by combined scores of 9-1 in two games just a season ago. Not this time. The Raiders scored two first half goals to lead 2-0 at the break, but weren’t prepared for what would happen the second half. SRU didn’t back down like in previous years, the team came out attacking. Kelsey Gustafson cut the lead in half with nearly 11 minutes to play and the top-ranked team in the nation was on its heels. The tying goal never came, but Slippery Rock finished the half outshoot-
ing Shippensburg 8-4 and not allowing the Raiders a single shot on target in the period. Three days later, The Rock was back in a dogfight, this time with the No. 2 team in the country on the road at Bloomsburg. The Huskies, who had beaten Slippery Rock 4-0 the year before, couldn’t score. Slippery Rock’s defense smothered the second-ranked team in the country and held them scoreless for regulation, sending the game to overtime. Bloomsburg found the winner in the first extra session, but Slippery Rock had made its mark. Little did the team know, but the rest of the nation was watching. The next day, SRU had to travel to No. 6 Millersville for its third game in a span of five days against top-ranked teams. As in many of those situations, the legs weren’t there. The Rock couldn’t find the cage, despite finishing with eight shots on target, and the Marauders earned a 2-0 edge. What happened the Tuesday after the Millersville game proved that others around the nation had recognized the change in Slippery Rock as well. The National Field Hockey Coaches
ALLY Banks
Grace bathurst
underclassman, tallying six goals and handing out two assists. She earned her second consecutive All-PSAC honor for her efforts. Banks started every game of the year and handed out three assists in her first campaign, and Bathurst remained a key to the defensive unit. Entering 2011, Swiney’s second at the helm, the goals were simple: keep building, improve, and make the playoffs. All three of those goals would be met. The team finished the year with six wins again, none bigger than an upset of sixthranked Indiana in the final game of the regular season, in overtime, that clinched the first PSAC playoff berth for Slippery Rock since Kasnevich’s 1987 team. It’s no surprise that the game-winning and playoff clinching strike came off the stick of Malishchak, who would go on to be named to her third consecutive All-Conference team. Slippery Rock suffered a 2-0 setback just days later in the opening round of the playoffs to finish the year with six wins again, marking the first back to back seasons with at least six wins since 1997-98. The team also finished with a 5-5 PSAC
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