The Slippery Rock women’s soccer team took care of business against California University (Pa.) with 4-0 win on Saturday. Slippery Rock’s (7-1-0, PSAC 6-0-0) win over Cal U (2-4, PSAC 1-4) helped it remain undefeated in conference play and extended its winning streak to seven games.
Goalkeeper Emma Yoder helped give Slippery Rock early momentum with a big save,
coming out of the net to make the stop on a Cal U breakaway opportunity. Rachel Edge would then score an unassisted goal from the top of the box to give Slippery Rock the lead a few minutes later. Edge now has six goals on the season and has scored in six of the last seven games.
The Rock has a record of 6-0-0 when Edge scores so far this season.
“It may seem minuscule but, even Miranda [Gallucci] winning a header in the middle of the
field or Brooke [Riefenstahl] chasing a kid down when anybody puts in a big play the team
feeds off that and as I said it just helps gain momentum for more big plays. We have this saying where something breeds something, so like hard work breeds hard work, shots breed shots, stuff like that. So a big play breeds another big play,” SRU coach Jessica Griggs said.
The Rock scored again two minutes after Edge’s goal when Kayla Swope assisted Shannon
McIntyre as she beat out Cal U keeper Ginna Sinatra high for her second goal of the season.
The Rock would score its third goal of the half 14 minutes later as Tyler Spence scored an unassisted goal. At the half, Slippery Rock led the Vulcans 3-0 and had the advantage in shots with 15 compared to Cal U who only got three shots off against Yoder and the Rock defense.
Cal U switched their goalkeeper for the second half as Calry Gobbie took over for
Sinatra in the second half. Gobbie only allowed the Rock one goal, which came in the 88th
minute when Tatum Bradley assisted Kayla Swope for her third goal of the season.
Swope led the Rock in shots and shots on goal, recording seven shots and three on goal.
Jordyn Minda took four shots and got two on goal, while Edge took four and got one on goal.
Cal U had five players with one shot and one shot on goal, and Rebecca Lyxell led the Vulcans with two shots and neither were on goal.
“Obviously coming out with another win is big and exciting for us, so I think overall the
team is just rolling and they just keep building momentum and going forward. And today was a great team win because we got a lot of people playing time and a lot of positive energy from the whole team,” said Griggs.
Slippery Rock dominated the box score in total shots, as they took 31 shots and put 11 on
goal. Those 31 shots were their most on goal so far this season, and they only allowed eight shots and five on goal. The Rock took seven corners and allowed the Vulcans five in the game. Cal U committed seven fouls, compared to the Rock’s three.
Yoder recorded five saves in the game, and recorded another shutout. The shutout was
the Rock’s third this season, and was also Yoder’s third this season. Yoder now has a .857 save percentage and still has yet to allow more than one goal in a game during her college career at Slippery Rock. Cal U played two keepers (Sinatra and Gobbie), and they split seven saves.
Sinatra recorded two and Gobbie was able to stop five of the six shots she faced in the second half.
Slippery Rock finished out its two-game homestand with wins in both games and its
first home shutout of the season. The Rock extended the series lead over Cal U to 27-10-2,
including a record of 13-5 at home against the Vulcans. The seven-game win streak matches their longest streak since the 2016 season.
Slippery Rock will face a big road test on Wednesday when they play Edinboro University, who has a record of 4-2-1 and a record of 4-0-1 in conference play.
