SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team tied No. 25 Lake Erie College, 1-1, Thursday afternoon in SRU's season opener at Egli Field.
 
Following 83 minutes of scoreless competition, Alejandro Fernandez beat Lake Erie goalie Tom John on a penalty kick to give The Rock a one-goal advantage. However, the Storm were able to force overtime after Tom Pearson scored the game-tying goal with just 22 seconds remaining in regulation.
 
Neither team was able to find the golden goal in either overtime period on the way to SRU's second consecutive season-opening tie; SRU also tied Cedarville 1-1 to start the 2019 season.
 
In what was an evenly-matched game, both The Rock and Strom finished with 17 total shots and seven shots on goal with Lake Erie holding a narrow 6-4 edge in corners.
 
Fernandez paced The Rock's offensive attack with one goal and three total shots, two of which were on target, while Anthony Gagliardi II also registered three shots. Brian McCarthy and Harry Griffin added two attempts apiece with Arturo Pla Hernandis, Mo Kanani, Ramses Minaya, Alex Plimmer, Paul Devlin, Joe Skillicorn and Alex Okuma all posting one shot attempt each.
 
Goalkeeper Hossam Aly performed great in his first career start for The Rock with six saves over the duration of the game.
 
Slippery Rock forced the action in the opening half as Hernandis took the first shot for SRU in the first minute of play. Soon after, Slippery Rock peppered the Lake Erie zone with four combined shots from Fernandez and Gagliardi II. However, the LEC defense thwarted the flurry to keep the game scoreless.
 
Meanwhile, SRU defense held tough on the other end of the field as the upset-minded Rock cleared any attempt that came their way to send the game into halftime tied 0-0.
 
SRU was once again the aggressors to start the second half with a pair of shots from Griffin and Okuma that were blocked. Lake Erie countered with an attack of its own, but The Rock successfully defended three corner attempts.
 
The game continued to be a back-and-forth contest leading to Fernandez's successful penalty kick and Pearson's dramatic goal in the final seconds of regulation.
 
Neither team was able to place a shot on target in the first overtime and Aly stopped Lake Erie's lone shot in the 107th minute en route to the 1-1 tie.
 
Slippery Rock will continue non-conference play with a match at Findlay 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
GOAL: ROCK 1, LEC 0; 83:21: Alejandro Fernandez
GOAL: ROCK 1, LEC 1; 89:38: Tom Pearson


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