JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to seven games in a 3-1 comeback victory over Pitt-Johnstown Saturday on the road.
With the win, SRU improves to 5-2-8 overall and 4-2-7 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division while UPJ moves to 4-7-3 overall and 4-6-2 in the conference. The Rock's seven-game unbeaten streak is tied for the ninth-longest such streak in program history. The last time SRU recorded an unbeaten streak of at least seven consecutive games was at the end of the 2019 season.
The Rock was led on offense by
Ashley Rea, who became the first Rock player this season to net two goals in one game.
Olivia Yoder scored her first goal of the season while
Julia Mascaro and
Morgan Sarver each had one assist.
Emma Yoder aided in the win by making two saves and allowing just one goal over 90 minutes.
SRU was the immediate aggressor of the contest taking nine shots, four of which were on goal, in the opening 17 minutes of the match.
Despite Slippery Rock's offensive surge, Pitt-Johnstown would score first when Morgan Kost landed UPJ's first shot of the game in the back of the net on an assist by Emily Esser at 20:04 to take a 1-0 lead over SRU.
The Rock started their search for an equalizer by firing eight total shots, two on target and three blocked, before Rea tallied SRU's first goal of the game in the 38th minute on an assist by Mascaro to knot the score at 1-1 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the final 45 minutes of the contest belonged to The Rock as Rea gave SRU a 2-1 lead over the Mountain Cats when she placed a free kick past UPJ goalkeeper Sachi Negri at 53:04.
Slippery Rock then sealed the victory over Pitt-Johnstown just under at 59:45 when
Olivia Yoder scored her first goal of the year on a pass from Sarver for the insurance score.
Emma Yoder and the Rock backline settled in to preserve the win, holding the Mountain Cats to just three total shots in the second half with only one on goal en route to the win. In all, SRU's defense limited UPJ to a season-low four shots.
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over Pitt-Johnstown in total shots (29-4), shots on goal (16-3) and corners (7-0).
SRU returns home to host California (Pa.) for a conference contest 4 p.m. Oct. 19 at James Egli Field. Earlier this year, The Rock played the Vulcans to a scoreless tie on the road.
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