The Slippery Rock Men’s Soccer team came out hot against Le Moyne on Tuesday, when they scored the first goal at the 16:10 mark in the first half, but couldn’t hold the momentum and eventually lost to Le Moyne by a final of 3-1.
The loss dropped SRU’s record to 8-5.
Slippery Rock struck first, when the ball off the foot of Ryan Lutke found the back of the net, giving him his team-leading seventh goal. Those seven goals rank him fourth in all of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
His goal was assisted by Peter Boylan. Boylan’s assist was his fourth of the season, a career high, and his four assists are the fifth most in the PSAC this season.
That goal was not enough, and Le Moyne found the back of the net twice in the final 10 minutes of the first half, to give them a 2-1 lead. More of the same happened in the second half where Le Moyne controlled the second half.
They finally found the back of the net in the 76th minute to give themselves a 3-1 lead. SRU was unable to record a shot in the final 14 minutes, and ultimately lost the game.
“We did some good stuff,” SRU coach Andy Hoggarth said. “We just lost the momentum we had after we scored the first goal.”
Not helping their own cause, The Rock were outmatched in every category. Le Moyne held the advantage in shots (12-7), shots on goal (5-4) and corner kicks (4-2). Hoggarth doesn’t think his defense needs to tighten up after allowed goaltender Kyle Hoffer to be peppered with shots.
“Our defense has been the strong point all season,” Hoggarth said. “There will always be those days that another team is going to challenge you. Tuesday was one of those days.”
The Rock had seven shots of their own, with four of those on goal, by Lutke, Peter Boylan, Justin Minda and Aaron Lambert.
Hoggarth wants more shots on goal going forward.
He said that a big key to winning a key conference game against West Chester on Saturday is to capitalize on chances they are creating for themselves. He says that his team is continuing to create chances, but now they need to take them.
The big change he says his team needs to make going forward is organization.
“We need to ensure that we are more organized,” Hoggarth said. “We need to make sure we are cognizant of what they are going to do.”
The Rock will look to take the advice of their coach and get back to their winning ways when they host West Chester at 12 p.m. Saturday, at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
