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ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men’s soccer team will travel to Erie to face Mercyhurst in the semifinals of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs Wednesday afternoon. Live statistics will be available for the 1 p.m. matchup.

The Rock, which finished the regular season one win shy of a school record with an overall mark of 16-3, placed second in the PSAC-West with a 6-2 record. Mercyhurst, by way of a 7-1 league record and a 2-1 win over SRU last Tuesday, earned the top seed.

Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst (14-5 overall) split the season series, with each team winning 2-1 on its home turf, but controversy marred the teams’ last meeting as The Rock was issued three red cards during the match and was forced to play down two men for nearly the entire second half. Even with a two-man advantage, the Lakers struggled to find the go-ahead goal, which finally came with less than 10 minutes to play. The Rock finished the game with advantages in total shots, shots on goal and in corner kicks, despite playing with only eight field players.

The winner of Wednesday’s semifinal game will host the PSAC Championship game Saturday against the winner of the Millersville-Bloomsburg semifinal game that will take place Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Wednesday’s semifinal game will feature arguably the four best players in the PSAC-Western Division and four of the top players in the NCAA Atlantic Region. Slippery Rock’s Jeremy Deighton and Greg Blum headline that list. Deighton leads the PSAC in scoring with 16 goals and five assists and is poised to earn his second straight PSAC-West Player of the Year honor. Blum has posted a 15-3 record in goal and has recorded eight shutouts. He ranks among the league leaders in goals against average at just 0.77 and has played just over 1520 minutes between the posts this season. His save percentage of .852 and his 75 saves are both among the top numbers in the region.

Mercyhurst is led by Billy Colton and Nicholas Thompson, each with double digit goals. Colton has scored 13 goals and tallied one assist to rank second in the PSAC in goals behind Deighton. Thompson has added 10 goals and a team-high seven assists to tie Colton with 27 points. Freshman keeper Diego Gustin is nominated for Rookie of the Year honors in the division and has posted a 1.05 goals against average and a 13-4-1 record. He has allowed 17 goals and recorded 65 saves for a .793 save percentage.

The Rock has outscored opponents 42-13 through 19 games this season. Mercyhurst has outscored its opponents 46-20.

Slippery Rock enters Wednesday’s game coming off a 3-1 win over Gannon Saturday at Thompson Stadium in the final game of the regular season. Mercyhurst is coming off a 3-1 loss on the road at Lake Erie College Saturday.

The SRU sports information office will provide live updates throughout Wednesday’s semifinal game in the form of live statistics and live Twitter updates. The links for each of these pages can be found at the top of this release. Twitter updates will begin approximately 45 minutes before kickoff and will continue throughout the contest.