Slippery Rock men’s soccer tallied their first conference win of the season over the University of Pitt-Johnstown yesterday at the Mountain Cats’ Windber Stadium.
After opening their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) schedule with two ties and a loss, The Rock picked themselves back up to .500 in conference play.
Both sides held the other off the scoreboard during the first half. Rock goalie Adam Davies racked up three saves in the front 45 while UPJ out-shot the White and Green by five.
The Mountain Cats’ first scoring opportunity came early but Davies stopped a shot off the boot of Noah Pawling in the seventh minute.
It did not take long for The Rock to get their early chance as Ignacio Rullan and Luke Gildea ripped off shots within three minutes of each other just after the 10-minute mark, but both went wide of the net.
It was much of the same until the 61st minute when Shaun Spencer broke the tie and put The Rock up by one. The senior defender smacked in a header moments after a corner kick.
The teams continued to mirror each other on the score board though, as the Mountain Cats’ Anson Portzline found the equalizer just over four minutes later, finding the bottom left of the net off a Jack Moyer pass in front of a defender.
It was Rasmus Fugl who would break the tie later on with what would be the game-winning goal.
Spencer played a large role in the final score, arcing a pass in over the net and placing it just in front of the bottom left corner. Fugl was there to capitalize, tapping in the dagger from close range.
UPJ would not get another shot off from that point on as The Rock’s defense capped off the 2-1 affair.
The Mountain Cats logged more shots, 13-11, and shots on goal, 7-5, than Slippery Rock, but SRU doubled their opponents save total of three.
Fugl finished with two shots and the game-winner. He is now second for the White and Green in goals, shots and shots on goal.
Spencer filled up the stat sheet with three shots, the goal and an assist across his 61 minutes played. The goal and the assist were both his first of the season.
Gildea and Ignacio had SRU’s other two assists while the latter tacked on three shots with one on goal.
Aashi Pandher and Aaron Finney tallied The Rock’s other two shots.
Outside of Portzline, six different UPJ players recorded one shot on goal, though all six were stopped by Davies.
Portzline finished his day with one goal on one shot over 42 minutes of play.
Now at 1-1-2 with five points in PSAC play, Slippery Rock men’s soccer is currently the four-seed in the PSAC-West, just behind seven-point Seton Hill University and eight-point No. 13 Gannon University.
The Rock’s schedule has lined up advantageously, as their next two games come against those two teams directly above them in the standings. Wins in both matchups would vault Slippery Rock over Seton Hill.
The White and Green could also potentially pass Gannon with two wins, pending the Golden Knights result against Pitt-Johnstown this Saturday.
Lock Haven University is a tier above the rest at the moment with 12 points.
SRU continues their stretch of three straight away games when they face off with Seton Hill in Greensburg, Pa.’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Field this Saturday at 1 p.m.
