SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Senior Makayla Bowman (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) of the Kutztown University women's lacrosse team reached a milestone Saturday, recording her 100th career goal, and was one of three KU players to net hat tricks in picking up the first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) victory of the season Saturday, on the road at Slippery Rock University 14-8.
 
The Golden Bears (2-4 overall, 1-2 PSAC) halted a four-game losing streak and moved ahead of the Rock (2-4, 1-2) in the conference standings.
 
"I am incredibly proud of their performance today," said head coach Jackie Stezzi. "Despite the injuries and obstacles that we had this week, the team stayed positive, supported each other, and executed our game plan beautifully."
 
Bowman, along with Cyla Cafferata (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) and Erin Vaughan Ware (Seaford, N.Y./MacArthur) all tallied three goals to pace the Kutztown offense. Emily Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Hubert Catholic) and Allie McCormick (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) also posted multiple goals, each finishing with two, and Lesley Lane (Jamesburg, N.J./Monroe Township) contributed one goal to round out the scoring.
 
Cafferata had a six-point day, adding three assists to go along with her three scores. Bowman tallied an assist for four points, and Lane and Destanee Watkins (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) both had one assist.
 
Outside of the goal scorers giving the Maroon and Gold a cushion offensively to record the victory, the story of the game, once again, came in front of KU's net.
 
Having to play without an injured Haley Kline (Reading, Pa./Wilson) for the second consecutive game, Stezzi plugged in a second different goalie in as many games. After junior defender Megan Vaughan (Prince Frederick, Md./Southern) stopped 12 shots at nationally-ranked West Chester on Wednesday in her first collegiate start at goalie, sophomore defender Devon Fitzpatrick (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) stepped in admirably, and after missing the game with the Golden Rams due to injury, Fitzpatrick made six saves and recorded her first career victory in her first start in net.
 
"Devon's selfless act of stepping in the cage rallied and focused our defense and the rest of the team followed suit," said Stezzi.
 
After Bowman opened the scoring just 1:28 into the game, Slippery Rock netted three of the next four goals to take two different leads. But the Golden Bears took control of the game in a 3:21 span by scoring four straight goals to take a 6-3 advantage with 6:50 left to go in the first half. The teams traded goals in the remaining time and KU went to halftime ahead 7-4.
 
The Rock would tally the second half's first goal to get to within two, but that would be the closest they would be the rest of the way as Kutztown found the back of the net for three unanswered as its lead rose to 10-5 a little more than eight minutes into the half.
 
Senior defender Amanda Lehman (York, Pa./West York Area) had a team-high five groundballs, followed by four a piece from Watkins, Lauren Schmidt (Hanover, Pa./South Western) and Shannon Darcy (Warwick, N.Y./John S. Burke Catholic). Schmidt recorded a game-high four caused turnovers. Watkins and McCormick each won four draw controls with Lehman winning three.
 
Kutztown will play its next two games at home. It will host Shippensburg on Wednesday, March 27, in a PSAC meeting at Andre Reed Stadium at 4 p.m. KU will then take on Gannon on Saturday, March 30, at 1 p.m.