The Rocket

Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Luke Lubich Freshman midfielder Whitney Warmus (No. 5) plays a ball during Wednesday's 2-1 overtime victory over Lock Haven. Warmus was one of seven freshmen used by Head Coach Noreen Herlihy, who was without leading scorer Meghan McGrath. [Click to enlarge]

Heading into Saturday's "crossover"with Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East opponent Kutztown (3-2-1, 0-2-1), the Rock, who were ranked no. 7 nationally at the time, had gotten out of the gate quickly and cleanly.

SRU finally stumbled.

Their stumble came in the form of a controversy filled 3-1 loss at Kutztown. The Rock (6-1, 4-0) was clearly the better team on the field, but a combination of bad calls, poor defense and an inability to score landed SRU its first defeat of the season.

"We just gave away two major goals early," Head Coach Noreen Herlihy said. "We made two huge defensive errors and they punished us for it. but it is something we have to learn from. If we do that, we will be ok."

Herlihy also pointed to some poor calls by the referees as a reason the Rock stuggled.

"When you complain it seems like a cop-out, but truthfully the calls made no sense," Herlihy said. " When that happens and your in attack mode if frustrates you, it's a natural reaction."

A loss is always tough to swallow, but Herlihy was still pleased with her teams effort.

"I am so proud of the girls because they never gave up," Herlihy said. "We were pinning the ball in their end, but the calls and the goals just didn't go our way."

During the game SRU was called of an unbelievable nine offsides while also losing leading scorer Meghan McGrath after she was given two yellow cards and sent off in the second half. The Rock was also without sophomore defender Alexis Chiani, who sat out the game with a knee injury.

Continued...

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