The Gannon University lacrosse team’s final week of the season included a highlight, as the Knights snapped an 11-game losing streak on April 24 with a wild 9-8 victory over Slippery Rock at McConnell Family Stadium.
That victory, coupled with Gannon’s 22-8 loss on the road to Bloomsburg Saturday, left the Knights with a final overall record of 3-13 and a 1-11 mark in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play.
On Senior Day, which took place April 20, Gannon dropped an 18-8 decision to Millersville at McConnell Family Stadium.
Facing off against Slippery Rock on April 24, Gannon was looking to take a more defensive approach in order to limit the goal-scoring capabilities of the SRU offense.
This strategy proved useful as the Knights scored nine minutes in on an unassisted shot from Erin Rotondo.
However this goal would wake up Slippery Rock and its offense, which would quickly score seven unanswered goals thanks to an unstoppable midfield attack that Gannon could not counter.
The opening of the second half saw a stint of sloppy play from both sides until a shot from Gannon’s Kayla Shields found the net on the second possession of the half, putting some wind back into the Knights’ sails.
They carried this momentum forward as Gannon would take the offensive, scoring six goals to SRU’s zero. Rotondo scored three of the goals while Alexa Bower, Rachel Tufts and Shields each added one. Haylee Tatar assisted on three of those goals.
Shields’ second goal put Gannon ahead 8-7 with a little less than five minutes remaining in the game, but Hayley Pimentel of Slippery Rock scored with 2:25 remaining to tie the score at 8-8.
That set the stage for Rotondo, who scored again on a shot from inside 15 feet for what would be the game-winning goal. That shot was Rotondo’s fourth goal of the day.
The last remaining game of the season took place in enemy territory at Bloomsburg.
Gannon took an early lead just over a minute into the game; however, the rest of the game would not follow that trend.
Two Knights netted multiple goals in the contest as Tufts scored three times, along with Shields, who scored twice.
Gannon also finished the game strong with a goal from Bower to close out the season.
On April 20, the Knights came out looking to do some damage right away, but Millersville found the net early and was able to jump out to an early lead.
Less than a minute into the contest, Millersville was able to get a quick score followed by another goal some three minutes later.
However, Gannon goaltender Erin Renwick – who finished the season with a record 188 saves — got back on her feet with a slick save, ultimately leading to a goal on the other end that made the score 2-1.
Millersville again went back on the attack, using speed to gain an advantage over the Knights on the fast-break. The Gannon defense was unable to slow the Marauders down and ultimately fell short.
Rotondo scored four goals to lead Gannon while Tufts added two and Ivy Carey and Maddie Crock each added one.
