INDIANA, Pa. – In a low scoring postseason affair, IUP women's lacrosse held off a second half rally from Slippery Rock for a 5-4 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships on Tuesday.
 
With the win, the Crimson Hawks advance to the program's fourth semifinal appearance in the last five seasons and will face the tournament's top seed East Stroudsburg on Friday.
 
IUP (11-6) scored the first goal just over six minutes into the contest, and held onto a 1-0 for nearly 18 minutes before two more goals less than three minutes apart. Ally Burrows (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) scored the game's opening goal – her 49th of the season – with Riley Greenleaf (Lansdale, Pa./Springfield) and Katie Martyn (Annapolis, Md./Archbishop Spalding) also netting scores.
 
Each IUP assist came from freshman Kelly Shields (Grasonville, Md./Kent Island), who was getting her first start since being sidelined by an injury on April 8. She returned in the regular season finale at East Stroudsburg and finished with a season-high four assists on Tuesday.
 
Slippery Rock (12-6) got on the board at the 2:20 mark to make it a 3-1 ballgame heading into halftime.
 
Three early second half goals were separated by 2:28, with Adriana Greco (Sound Beach, N.Y./Rocky Point) giving the Crimson Hawks a 4-1 lead before The Rock's Tia Torchia went back-to-back to cut IUP's lead to one with 25 minutes remaining.
 
With just under 23 minutes to play in the game, Hannah Bertolo (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) set a new IUP single season record with 60 ground ball pickups. She broke the nine-year old record of Sarah DeMaio, who had 59 ground balls in 2008.
 
With the game getting tighter, IUP picked up a much-needed goal as Kim Hooven (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) broke free down the middle of the field before dumping it off to Greenleaf to give the Crimson Hawks a 5-3 lead with 5:03 left to play.
 
Just one minute later Slippery Rock cut its deficit back to one, setting up a highly contested last four minutes that included a key save on a free position attempt by Angela Lontoc (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) to keep IUP in front.
 
Martyn also made a huge defensive play in the final moments, causing a turnover on a pass from Rock goalie Emily Bitka with 1:39 to play as the Crimson Hawks held onto it the rest of the way to clinch the win.
 
Up next
The Crimson Hawks will face East Stroudsburg at 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon. With a win, IUP will advance to the PSAC Championship game on Sunday to face the winner of Mercyhurst and East Stroudsburg.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's lacrosse on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPLacrosse.