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CALIFORNIA, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team opened up its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schedule with an emphatic 3-1 win against California University (Pa.) Saturday afternoon at the Phillipsburg Soccer Complex.
 
The victory improves The Rock's record to 3-2-0 on the season overall and 1-0 in PSAC play. The Vulcans fall to 1-3-1 overall and 0-1-0 in league games with the loss.
 
Slippery Rock received goals from Peter Boylan, Josh Allman and Dom Francis while the trio of Stephen Donnelly, Josh Brake and Mike Ilodigwe all tallied assists with Donnelly playing a part in two Rock scores. His multi-assist day was the first of his four-year collegiate career and now gives him a team-high eight points on the season.
 
Goalkeeper Steven Rerick improved to 3-2 on the year after stopping six shots and allowing just one goal on the day.
 
Despite being outshot 19-6 on the day, Slippery Rock made the most of its opportunities as was the case early on when Donnelly found Boylan on a long pass that allowed him to beat Vulcan goalie Shane Donovan to put SRU up 1-0 in the eighth minute. The score was Boylan's second of the season.
 
Slippery Rock proceeded to deny California on seven consecutive Vulcan shots before taking a two-goal lead with nine minutes remaining in the opening period when Allman scored his first goal of the year on a ball assisted by Ilodigwe and Donnelly. California took three more unsuccessful shots to end the half with The Rock holding a 2-0 lead.
 
Francis wasted little time putting the game out of reach in the second half when he pulled in Brake's crossing pass and landed a shot past Donovan from 10 feet out to give The Rock a commanding 3-0 advantage. The goal was Francis' team-leading third of the season.
 
The Vulcans managed to avoid being shutout thanks to Djordje Babic's goal in the 76^th minute of play, but it wasn't enough as the Slippery Rock defense quickly regrouped and did not allow a shot over the final 14 minutes of the second half en route to the 3-1 victory.
 
The Rock has now allowed two goals or less in four of their five games this season.
 
California held a narrow 7-6 edge over SRU in shots on goal as well as an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks. Babic paced The Vulcans with four shots in addition to his one goal. Donovan stopped three shots in goal for the Vulcans.
 
SRU looks to extend its winning streak to three games when it travels to Millersville University Wednesday at 3 p.m.