It was a hot, messy game on Saturday as Shippensburg University took on Slippery Rock University in a PSAC division soccer match. The Raiders were riding their own wave of momentum after beating Holy Family University on Wednesday by a score of 4-1.

This game, however, got off to a bad start very early on for the Raiders. It only took 3 minutes for Slippery Rock to score its first goal, after Slippery Rock’s Justin Minda finished off a nice assist from Nick Sodini to make it 1-0. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the pressure from Slippery Rock. Eight minutes later, it scored its second goal when Sodini headed in a rebound that was saved by SU keeper Garret Watson.

SU had trouble on offense all day, but that was thanks to some very stout defense by Slippery Rock. SU also played very strong defense after those two early goals. It did not allow the Rock to have any more major chances for the remainder of the game.

Coach Jeremy Spering said after the game the defense was very impressive and settled down and did its job after the early breakdowns. The only other issue the defense had was near the middle point of the second half, when Slippery Rock was on the break and there was a two-on-one situation, and Watson came out to try and tackle the first man. The ball then squirted out to the second man, who took the shot, but freshman defender Jamie Blair ran to the goal line and was able to head the ball away from the net, saving another goal. Watson had a good, net coming up with some impressive saves. He had 5 total saves during the game.

When asked why he thought his team was unable to score a goal after putting four past Holy Family, Coach Spering said,

“We’re young, it’s not a mystery. With that, consistency is an issue.”

It was SU’S first loss of the semester, but they have another game on Tuesday, so they need to move past this defeat and focus on University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

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