Live Stats | Slippery Rock Stats | West Chester Stats
 
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team will start its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title defense at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when it travels to take on West Chester in the opening round of the 2014 PSAC Tournament. The game is a rematch of Slippery Rock's regular season finale in which The Rock came away with a shutout victory against the Rams.
 
Live Coverage: The West Chester sports information office will provide live statistics at the above link for the game. Live updates will also be available on Twitter throughout the weekend (@Rock_Athletics).
 
How They Got Here: Slippery Rock enters the PSAC Tournament ready to defend its 2013 championship as the tournament's fifth seed riding a wave of momentum that has seen SRU win four out of its last five games, including a 3-0 win on the road at West Chester on Nov. 1., to close out the regular season with an 11-6-0 record.
 
West Chester dropped two of its final three games of the regular season and takes a 9-7 overall record and a 7-4 PSAC mark into the postseason. WCU earned the PSAC Tournament's fourth seed, and the right to host an opening round game, over Slippery Rock by fractions of a point.
 
How They Compare: Slippery Rock, which ranks 31^st in NCAA Division II in goals per game, has scored 38 goals this season compared to West Chester's 29. However, the WCU defense has surrendered 22 goals as opposed to The Rock's 30. SRU also holds a sizeable advantage over West Chester in shots on goal (109-76).
 
West Chester has recorded five shutouts this season while being shutout two times. SRU has three shutouts and has been held scoreless three times as well.
 
Road Warriors: Slippery Rock is 23-8-6 (.703) in away or neutral site games dating back to the 2011 season. Five of Slippery Rock's nine all-time wins against West Chester have come on the road.
 
Rock Stat Leaders: Eight different players have scored goals for Slippery Rock this season with Stephen Donnelly leading the way at 13. Peter Boylan and Dom Francis both have seven goals as well, giving SRU three goal scorers with seven or more goals for the first time since 1999.
 
Donnelly and Josh Allman rank first and second in assists for Slippery Rock with seven and three, respectively.
 
POINTS
1. Donnelly – 33 (13g, 7a)
2. Boylan – 15 (7g, 1a)
3. Francis – 15 (7g, 1a)
4. Mike Ilodigwe – 11 (5g, 1a)
5. Matt Sangermano – 8 (3g, 2a)
 
GOALS
1. Donnelly – 13
2. Boylan – 7
3. Francis – 7
4. Ilodigwe – 5
5. Sangermano – 3
 
ASSISTS
1. Donnelly – 7
2. Allman – 3
3. Five players tied – 2
 
West Chester Stat Leaders: Six different WCU players have scored at least two goals including Tommy Ryan, who has a team-high six goals on the year. Alex Lean's four assists are a team-best.
 
POINTS
1. Ryan – 15 (6g, 3a)
2. Alex Caplan – 11 (5g, 1a)
3. Lean – 10 (3g, 4a)
4. Miguel Ross – 9 (3g, 3a)
5. Brett Glasco – 8 (3g, 2a)
 
GOALS
1. Ryan – 6
2. Caplan – 5
3. Lean – 3
3. Ross – 3
3. Glasco – 3
 
ASSISTS
1. Lean – 4
2. Ryan – 3
2. Ross – 3
4. Glasco – 2
4. Mowrey - 2
 
The Goalies: Steven Rerick is Slippery Rock's primary goalie. He has started 15 of the team's 17 games and is 9-6-0 with three shutouts, 73 saves (.730) and a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 1.82.
 
Matt Palmer is 8-5-0 for WCU with three shutouts, 64 saves (.780) and a 1.34 GAA.
 
Rock Record Book: Head coach Andy Hoggarth needs just one more win to break the Slippery Rock record for wins by a first-year head coach. He is currently tied for first place with his predecessor Michael Bonelli, who went 11-7-1 in his first year at SRU in 2010.
 
Entering the postseason, Donnelly is tied for 10^th in school history in career points at 71 off of 29 goals and 13 assists. He is also tied for ninth in SRU history in career goals.
 
Additionally, his 33 points in 2014 is the 14^th highest total in a single-season in SRU history.
 
The Coaches: Hoggarth became the 11th head coach in Slippery Rock history on May 30, 2014 after serving as an assistant coach with the women's soccer team at the University of Akron in 2013. Prior to that appointment, he served as the head coach of both the men's and women's soccer teams at nearby Thiel College for six seasons from 2007-12.
 
Michael Benn enters his second season with West Chester University's men's soccer program. He was named the University's men's soccer head coach in July 2013. In his first season on South Campus, Benn was selected as the PSAC Coach of the Year and the NSCAA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. He led the squad to a 13-win season for the first time since 2006 and delivered the Golden Rams their first winning season since 2008.
 
Rock PSAC Tournament History: Slippery Rock has won seven PSAC championships with its most recent conference crown coming last season. Since the 2005 season, SRU has qualified for the PSAC Tournament seven times, advancing to the championship game four times and winning league titles in 2005, 2009 and 2013. Slippery Rock has played in the conference championship game in each of the last two years.
 
The Series: The Rams lead the all-time series 11-9, but Slippery Rock has won six of its last seven games against West Chester.
 
Last Meeting: Donnelly scored three times and Rerick stopped three shots in The Rock's 3-0 shutout victory against West Chester in the regular season finale on Nov. 1, 2013 (Box Score).
 
Up Next: Tuesday's winner will play at top-seeded Mercyhurst Friday in the semifinals of the PSAC Tournament at a time yet to be announced.