SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team kept its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference record spotless Tuesday afternoon with a 3-1 win against California University (Pa.) at James Egli Field.
 
The win, SRU's second in a row, improves The Rock's record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. The win also pushes SRU's record to 4-0 at home for the first time since 1980. The Vulcans dropped to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in PSAC competition after the loss.
 
Slippery Rock surrendered a quick goal to Jesse Scheirer, the reigning PSAC Player of the Week, before rebounding to rattle off three consecutive goals en route to the victory.
 
The Vulcans got out to a 1-0 lead when Lubos Kubik played a pass into The Rock's zone to Scheirer, who then managed to beat Rock goalie Kyle Hoffer just 3:44 into the first half. However, the rest of the game belonged to The Rock.
 
Slippery Rock spent the rest of the first half peppering California with shots until finally breaking through in the 43rd minute when Peter Boylan corralled a long pass and took off on a breakaway only to be fouled hard just as he was getting ready to attempt a shot. Following a red card to the Vulcans' Eleazar Luciano, Ryan Lutke converted a penalty kick to tie the contest at 1-1.
 
Lutke's goal was his team-leading fourth of the season. All four scores have come off of penalty kicks; no player in documented SRU men's soccer history has made four penalty kicks in a year.
 
Not content with going into halftime tied, Slippery Rock made the most of its one-man advantage by going right back on the attack to score the go-ahead goal just over a minute later when Matt Sangermano received a pass from Devin Hoffman and quickly turned to fire a shot past Vulcan goalie Aaron Donley to put The Rock up 2-1. Sangermano's goal was his second of the season while Hoffman's assist was the first point of his collegiate career.
 
Slippery Rock tallied 11 shots in the second half, but the only ball that found the back of the net in the final 45 minutes would be a California own goal that was inadvertently passed past the Vulcans' goalie from just inside midfield in the 69th minute to give SRU a 3-1 lead that it would never relinquish.
 
In addition to his goal, Sangermano recorded two shots on a goal, as did Justin Minda and Josh Allman to pace The Rock's attack. Hoffer improved to 3-0 on the year after stopping one shot and allowing one goal in 90 minutes.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over the Vulcans in shots (19-11), shots on goal (12-2) and corners (7-3).
 
Slippery Rock returns to action when it hosts Millersville 1 p.m. Saturday at Egli Field. Following the contest, Slippery Rock will play a pair of road matches at Mercyhurst (Sept. 23) and at Wheeling Jesuit (Sept. 26).