The Slippery Rock men’s soccer team hosted the Bloomsburg men’s soccer team on Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson stadium in a PSAC conference match in front of a home crowd of 99 people. The Rock extended their win streak to two games with a 1-0 victory over Bloomsburg.
The Rock struck first in the 37th minute when junior midfielder George Oakley belted a shot off the crossbar which fell to sophomore forward Luke Picchi who headed the ball past Bloomsburg keeper Taylor Lesage. The official time of the goal was 37:55. The Rock snatched a 1-0 lead late in the first half.
Bloomsburg made a potential comeback even harder on themselves when Kevin Rodriguez was shown a straight red card in the 43rd minute and Bloomsburg was forced to play with 10 men for the rest of the match.
Despite a furious finish to the match, TheRock prevailed with a 1-0 victory thanks in large part to senior goalkeeper Johnathon Sharp who recorded a second consecutive clean sheet.
The Rock attempted 15 shots with 3 being on goal while Bloomsburg attempted 10 shots with 6 on goal. Sharp was excellent with a 6 save shutout, his third of the season. His counterpart Lesage recorded 2 saves in a losing effort.
Picchi scored the lone goal for the Rock, his first as a member of the Slippery Rock men’s soccer team. Oakley recorded the match’s only assist on the goal, his third of the season.
Several SRU players recorded a shot on goal, freshman forward Sean Tinney lead the way one shot on four attempts. Goalscorer Picchi recorded one shot on two attempts. Senior defender Patrick Sullivan recorded a shot on goal in his lone attempt. Junior forward Igor McVeagh and Oakley each attempted two shots on goal while senior midfielder Tyler McCarthy, freshman midfielder Hector Buchter, junior midfielder Anthony Werth, and senior defender Kyle Boyer each attempted one shot.
With the win, The Rock is now 3-5-3 with a 2-2-2 PSAC conference record while Bloomsburg falls to 1-8-0 with an 0-6-0 PSAC conference record.
Hoping to extend the current win streak, the Rock travels to West Virginia on Tuesday, October 10th for a 2:00 match with Salem International University.
