Rock drops third straight to ranked opponent

With its only two losses this season coming against nationally ranked opponents, Slippery Rock men's soccer looked to change that as they faced off Thursday night against No. 6 ranked Mercyhurst College.

In a tie game in the final minute of play, SRU gave up the game-winning goal to Mercyhurst as Fernando Martinez sent a shot from 35 yards out that snuck past junior goalkeeper Timothy White.

The scoring started for SRU in the 17th minute when freshman forward Christopher Davis scored a goal and was assisted by White.

As the first half was closing out, Mercyhurst responded with a header from Patrick Gehring on a free kick.

The Lakers controlled corner kicks in the first half with a 4-0 margin and led SRU 13-9 in shots for the first half with five on goal to the Green and White's three.

Heading into Thursday's game, White said that SRU had to focus on playing its style of game and not allowing the Lakers to force them into playing the way they want.

"We have to play our style," White said. "We have to come out aggressive and not allow them to change the way that we play. We have to play hard if we want a chance to win the game."

The Rock came close to get the victory in the 71st minute when Clark took a  shot that was saved by the Mercyhurst goalkeeper.

The Green and White were outshot by the Lakers, 20-10 in the game and controlled corner kicks 7-3.

The Rock had 18 fouls while Mercyhurst had 16 fouls in the game.

Senior defender Alex Swartz led the team with two shots against the Lakers.

White looked back on the close losses against ranked teams and said that  it was mental mistakes that led to the losses by SRU.

On Saturday, Rock sophomore midfielder Frank Maiolo scored his first career goal, which turned out to be the game winner against Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

The goal was registered in the 59th minute of play after Maiolo received a pass from Davis.

The win for SRU meant something special to the returning players on the squad, according to White.

"It was a satisfying victory for the returning players," White said. "There was some bad blood after last year's loss. We played well against Ship and had some opportunities to score four or five goals."

White earned the shutout in goal after recording three saves. The Green and White finished the game with an advantage in every statistical category with a 17-15 edge in total shots, a 9-3 margin of shots on goal and a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.

The Rock had 12 fouls in the game while Shippensburg had 18 fouls.

Freshman forward Stephen Donnelly highlighted the offensive attack for SRU with five shots, while junior midfielder Cody Clark had four shots