SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team lost to Salem International University, 1-0, in non-conference play Tuesday afternoon at James Egli Field.
Slippery Rock (2-5-1) held advantages over Salem International (3-4-0) in both shots (8-6) and corner kicks (7-3), but a goal by SIU's Emilio Marti early in the second half proved to be too much for The Rock to overcome.
George Oakley led Slippery Rock with three shots against the Tigers.
Mike Pcholinsky added two attempts as well with
Andre Morgan,
Kenton Keeslar and
Josh Allman all tallying one shot apiece.
Goalkeeper
Jonathan Sharp made three saves over 90 minutes for The Rock in the loss.
Slippery Rock controlled possession for the majority of Tuesday's game, but could never quite find a way to produce a game-tying or go-ahead goal.
Pcholinsky appeared poised to give The Rock an early lead just 68 seconds into the game when SIU goalkeeper Dom Gillepsie found himself out of position, leaving the Tigers' goal exposed, but Pcholinsky's shot went go just wide left of the goal.
Slippery Rock went on to earn three corner kicks over the next 20 minutes, but Salem International cleared each attempt. SRU's next best opportunities for goals came late in the first half, but one Oakley attempt went wide while another was stopped by Gillepsie.
SRU's defense had little trouble fending off Salem's attack in the first half as the Tigers managed just three shots in the first 45 minutes, one wide shot in the 17th minute and two more in the final five minutes of the half that were saved by Sharp to send the game into halftime tied at 0-0.
The turning point of the game came four minutes into the second half when Marti took a pass from Leonardo Figueiredo beating his man and Sharp to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage early in the second half.
Slippery Rock nearly evened the score on several occasions over the remainder of the game, but Salem International was ultimately able to defend The Rock's proceeding five shots and four corners following the goal to eke out the one-goal win.
Slippery Rock returns to Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference competition 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Bloomsburg University.
