Box Score

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team kept its playoff hopes alive with a 3-1 win over Gannon Saturday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference match at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The win was the third in a row for The Rock, which saw their season record improve to 7-7-1 overall and 3-5 in PSAC action. With one conference game to play, three of the four playoff seeds in the conference have been clinched. The final spot will not be decided until next Saturday, with East Stroudsburg, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg, Mercyhurst and Slippery Rock all statistically still having a shot.

Only Mercyhurst controls its own destiny. A Laker win over Gannon next Saturday would put Mercyhurst in the playoffs, despite the results of the other games. All the other teams still alive will need a win in their final game and help from the other teams.

Gannon dropped to 6-9-2 overall and 2-5-1 in PSAC play with Saturday's loss. The Golden Knights join West Chester as the only two teams in the league that have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Slippery Rock got goals from Alex Swartz, Austin Pierce and Chris Hall and outstanding goalkeeping from Clayton Master to earn the win and keep its playoff hopes alive.

Gannon got a goal late in the game from Adam Sharbaugh and keeper Jason Barbarino made three saves in the loss.

Gannon finished the game with slim advantages of 15-13 in total shots and 7-6 in shots on goal. Both teams were awarded with four corner kicks.

After a scoreless opening 25 minutes of play, Swartz put Slippery Rock on the board when he intercepted a pass near midfield and streaked down the right wing on a solo breakaway before beating Barbarino to the back post for his first goal of the season.

The 1-0 margin stood until halftime with Gannon owning a 7-4 edge in shots and SRU posting a 2-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Pierce made it 2-0 in the 55th minute when he took a pass from Cody Clark and beat two defenders to score into the lower right corner of the net.

Hall pushed the lead out to 3-0 in the 80th minute when he took a long pass down the right wing from Stephen Donnelly and slipped a shot under Barbarino to the back post.

Gannon cut the lead to 3-1 just 34 seconds later after Tyler Hollingsworth swung a cross into the box that found Sharbaugh in front of an open net at the 79:44 mark.

Neither team would find the net over the final 10 minutes.

Slippery Rock will host its final two regular season games next week with West Virginia Wesleyan visiting Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff. That game will also be the annual Senior Day game, with SRU's five seniors being honored before kickoff. The final game of the year is set for Saturday at noon against Lock Haven.