2008 Woodie Awards
Women's soccer win streak halted with close loss to Mercyhurst
By Matt Matusek
Issue date: 10/7/05 Section: Sports
The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team split two games this week with a win at Bloomsburg University and a loss at Mercyhurst College.
On Wednesday, SRU fell one goal short to Mercyhurst, losing 2-1 despite outshooting its opponent 14-7 in the game. The loss snapped a four-game win streak and a five-game unbeaten streak for the Rock.
Mercyhurst's Lisa Casement scored the first goal of the game, but the Rock's Sarah Mangiarelli tied the game with a goal during the 28th minute of the first half.
Mercyhurst's Sarah Powell gave her team the 2-1 lead, scoring about minute after Mangiarelli's goal.
"We didn't play well in the first half but we picked up the intensity in the second half," coach Noreen Herlihy said. "Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get the victory."
Despite the loss, Herlihy said the team does not view it as a setback, but rather as a learning curve.
"It's obvious we haven't been firing on all cylinders defensively...I'm confident we can do better things defensively and cut back on mistakes," Herlihy said.
Herlihy also said the team is confident the loss was just part of the learning curve of the young team's first season together.
"We take what we can from every game and try our best to learn from it the best we can," Herlihy said.
Since Mercyhurst and Slippery Rock are not in the same conference, the loss does not affect the Rock's chances of trying to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division.
"We have Mercyhurst on our schedule for a reason," Herlihy said. "They have a great tradition of winning with the soccer program, we try to compete against the best teams we can (out of conference)."
Last Sunday, the Rock had a crossover game against Bloomsburg, which it won 3-2.
Slippery Rock rode the back of Meghan McGrath, who scored her third and fourth goals of the season for SRU. The four goals for McGrath have her tied for the team lead with Mangiarelli.
On Wednesday, SRU fell one goal short to Mercyhurst, losing 2-1 despite outshooting its opponent 14-7 in the game. The loss snapped a four-game win streak and a five-game unbeaten streak for the Rock.
Mercyhurst's Lisa Casement scored the first goal of the game, but the Rock's Sarah Mangiarelli tied the game with a goal during the 28th minute of the first half.
Mercyhurst's Sarah Powell gave her team the 2-1 lead, scoring about minute after Mangiarelli's goal.
"We didn't play well in the first half but we picked up the intensity in the second half," coach Noreen Herlihy said. "Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get the victory."
Despite the loss, Herlihy said the team does not view it as a setback, but rather as a learning curve.
"It's obvious we haven't been firing on all cylinders defensively...I'm confident we can do better things defensively and cut back on mistakes," Herlihy said.
Herlihy also said the team is confident the loss was just part of the learning curve of the young team's first season together.
"We take what we can from every game and try our best to learn from it the best we can," Herlihy said.
Since Mercyhurst and Slippery Rock are not in the same conference, the loss does not affect the Rock's chances of trying to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division.
"We have Mercyhurst on our schedule for a reason," Herlihy said. "They have a great tradition of winning with the soccer program, we try to compete against the best teams we can (out of conference)."
Last Sunday, the Rock had a crossover game against Bloomsburg, which it won 3-2.
Slippery Rock rode the back of Meghan McGrath, who scored her third and fourth goals of the season for SRU. The four goals for McGrath have her tied for the team lead with Mangiarelli.
