Box Score
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CALIFORNIA, Pa. – The 17th-ranked Kutztown University women's soccer team handed No. 22 Slippery Rock a 4-0 defeat in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference semifinals Friday afternoon at California University.
Kutztown (16-4-0) advances to the PSAC championship game, where it will face No. 4 California (Pa.) for the title Saturday at 4 p.m.
With the loss, Slippery Rock drops to 14-4-2 overall on the season and must now wait until the NCAA Women's Soccer Committee announces the field for the Division II national tournament Monday night. The top six seeds in the Atlantic Region earn a berth in the tournament. At last week's rankings, Slippery Rock ranked third behind California and Kutztown, both of which are likely to remain atop the rankings.
Kutztown got on the board 17:50 into the game Friday, snapping a shutout streak of 11 games for Slippery Rock, which ranks as a tie for fifth all-time in Division II history. The scoreless stretch spanned a total of 1,088:52. Ironically, the Golden Bears were the last team to score on SRU before Friday, with that goal coming in a 1-0 KU win Sept. 24.
Kutztown kept the pressure on after the first tally, netting two more goals in the opening half to take 3-0 lead. Slippery Rock had a shot to cut the deficit to two with 30 seconds left in the opening half, but
Kara Mullins shot just missed the net.
With The Rock pushing forward in the second half, Kutztown was able to counter and add a fourth goal to put the game out of reach.
The Golden Bears finished the game with advantages of 16-10 in total shots and 11-3 in shots on goal. Slippery Rock posted a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Casey Behrendt made three saves to earn the shutout in goal for Kutztown, while
Lisa Rodgers made seven saves for Slippery Rock.
Mullins finished with three shots to lead the SRU offensive attack, while
Shelby Ward and
Alyssa Barrett each added two shots.
Sarah Black scored the first two goals of the game, putting the Golden Bears up 1-0 at the 17:50 mark after converting an assist from Maria Borland and making it 2-0 at 26:07 with an unassisted tally.
Crystal Zerbe made it 3-0 at 40:31 after scoring on the assist from Rubi Mink and that margin would hold until the halftime break.
At the break, Kutztown owned advantages of 10-4 in shots and 3-2 in corner kicks.
Janine Valerio added the final goal of the game off an assist from Samantha Moyer at 59:13.
Friday's game marked the first time Slippery Rock had allowed four goals in a single game in exactly three years, dating back to a 5-2 loss in the PSAC playoffs against Mercyhurst Nov. 4, 2008.
Friday's 4-0 loss also marked the first time all season Slippery Rock had lost by more than one goal and the first time the team had allowed more than two goals in a game all season. Entering Friday's game, The Rock had allowed a total of six goals.
The NCAA will announce the field for the 2011 national tournament in a live webcast at www.ncaa.com Monday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m.
