Nov. 2, 2005

Final Stats

Slippery Rock, Pa. - The Rock advanced to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game for the first time since 1985 with an overtime, sudden-death shootout win over visiting Lock Haven.

SRU will face regular-season champion California U. of Pa. on the Vulcans' home field at 1 p.m. Sunday.

If only the task to describe the path taken by The Rock to earn the title-game berth was that easy ...

Words can not accurately or completely describe the drama that unfolded on Bob DiSpirito Field at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium as The Rock and Lock Haven battled for the right to play in Sunday's title game.

Neither team was able to score a goal in the first half.

Both teams scored a pair of goals in the second half. The Rock trailed 1-0 and 2-1 and dug down deep each time to erase the deficit.

Neither team scored in the first 10-minute overtime period, and neither could score in the second overtime.

Officially, that was it. The final score was 2-2. But a winner had to be determined to complete the matchup for Sunday's title game. The first 110 minutes of action merely set the stage for the dreaded penalty-kick shootout series of five shots by each team, and ultimately the excruciating sudden-death shootout.

One team would "live to play another day" and one would see its season come to a heartbreaking conclusion.

You can only imagine the pandemonium that erupted when Nathan Puskar, the seventh Rock player to attempt an overtime "PK" found the back of the net with the decisive shot.

Puskar's shot gave The Rock a 3-2 edge in the shootout, during which Rock goalie Chris Cook turned aside five straight Lock Haven shots after the Bald Eagles had scored on their first two attempts.

Shaun Reid and Matt Furlan successfully converted their PK attempts in the second and fourth rounds, respectively, to send the shootout into the do-or-die segment and set the stage for Puskar's game-winning shot.

During regulation play, Dave Keller and Ed Mocarsky scored a goal each and Jeff Hamley recorded an assist.

Keller's goal came on a penalty kick after a Rock player was tripped in the penalty box in the 59th minute of action to tie the score at 1-1.

Mocarsky scored off an assist from Hamley in the 87th minute of action to tie the score at 2-2.

Notes: In addition to its PSAC title-game berth, The Rock could also be in position to earn a trip to NCAA postseason competition. SRU and Lock Haven entered Wednesday's game tied for fourth in the Division II Northeast Regional rankings. The top four teams in the region at the conclusion of the season will earn a regional-tournament berth ... Sunday, The Rock will go in search of its second PSAC title. The 1974 squad coached by Jim Egli, a member of the SRU and NAIA Hall of Fame, beat East Stroudsburg by a 2-1 margin in overtime in 1974 ... SRU is in the PSAC finals for the sixth time in the program's history. Egli-coached teams earned conference runner-up honors in 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1985 ... The Rock and California will meet for the third time this fall. The Vulcans erupted for four goals in the first 15 minutes and held off a Rock comeback effort to record a 4-3 win Sept. 21 in California. The Rock won a 1-0 decision on James W. Egli Soccer Field on Oct. 22 ... Wednesday's win was The Rock's third in as many meetings this fall with Lock Haven. SRU won a 2-1 decision in Lock Haven on Sept. 7 and a 1-0 decision on Oct. 8.