FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Field Hockey team eked out a 1-0 overtime victory over Slippery Rock on Tuesday evening to earn their first-ever PSAC win.
 
There wouldn't be much in the way of attacking during the early minutes, as each team traded possession without creating many chances. FSU earned the game's first pair of corners but weren't able to generate a shot from either. The Rock began to control things at the 10-minute mark, earning their first corner before putting considerable pressure on the Bobcat goal. Three more corners resulted in a pair of efforts towards junior Zoe Barnes' net, but she was equal to the task on both. Two minutes later, Frostburg took their chance to move up the field, where sophomore Emma Price drew the first save from Grace Burker, followed up by a pair of FSU corners where a shot was placed wide and another blocked, bringing the period to a scoreless close.
 
SRU came out quick to start the second, drawing an early corner and nearly scoring on a blocked rebound, but Barnes got down smartly to thwart the chance. After a nervy couple of opening minutes, Frostburg recovered, as junior Paige Leitzel had two efforts in the next five minutes, one just going wide of the cage, and another kicked away by Burker off a corner. As the frame entered the final five minutes, Slippery Rock was shown a green card to put the Bobcats a player up, but all they could manage the rest of the quarter was a Leitzel shot wide, entering the half at 0-0.
 
Reversing the previous frame, FSU was the first to get going in the second half, earning three corners, as graduate Emilie Bonhivert had one shot blocked in front of net and Burker made back-to-back saves to preserve the tie. Still piling on the pressure, Bonhivert drew yet another stop from The Rock netminder, then off a corner graduate Zoe Reading saw a shot cleared off the line, as the visitors were able to regain some control. Late on in the quarter, Frostburg was shown two green cards within second of each other, giving SRU a full two minutes up by two players. The Bobcat defense held firm, fending off four Slippery Rock corners all in quick succession, getting in front of one effort while Barnes made a key save on the next, ending the period still without a goal.
 
Leitzel had another chance in the first minute of the fourth but was met once again by Burker. Frostburg's defense was called into heavy action again at the eight-minute mark, as The Rock were awarded another four corners, but all that came of it was a shot blocked before reaching Barnes. In the final minute of regulation, it appeared that SRU would finally break through to score a game-decider, but Barnes made a pair of stops and sophomore Morgan Sparks had an important defensive save on the line, fending off the final attack and sending the game into overtime.
 
Within two minutes of the extra period, FSU had an early run down the right side and sent the ball into the area, though it was initially cleared by SRU's defense. As it trickled back out to Leitzel, she quickly worked her way in and fed a pass to Reading, slotting in the bottom right corner for the 1-0 victory.
 
The Bobcats held a narrow 14-12 advantage in shots, with eight on goal compared to seven, while Slippery Rock had 15 penalty corners to FSU's 11.
 
With the win, Frostburg improves to 4-6 on the year, while The Rock fall to 2-7. The Bobcats next hit the road for a tough test against No. 2 Kutztown on Friday, October 11 at 6 p.m. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.