NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team succumbed to an 82^nd-minute penalty kick in a 1-0 non-conference loss at Walsh University Wednesday night.
 
The Rock fall to 1-1 on the season while the home-opening win for Walsh also serves as the Cavaliers' first of the year, bringing their overall record up to 1-2.
 
Rasmus Fugl played the full 90 minutes up front for Slippery Rock, leading the offense with three shots. Colton Swanson had the team's lone shot on goal, finishing the night with two shot attempts in total. Luke Gildea, Aitor Jorde and Gabin Lonjard rounded things out with one shot each.
 
Adam Davies made four saves from open play, allowing only Walsh's penalty kick goal.
 
While shot attempts came at a premium for both sides, Slippery Rock found itself unlucky with the goalposts playing as second keeper for the Cavaliers. Fugl saw his opening shot in the 13^th minute hit the woodwork before Gildea's 25^th-minute one-timer rung off the crossbar as well.
 
Those were the two looks SRU had in the first half with Walsh leading 5-2 in shots 45 minutes into the scoreless contest.
 
Jorde appeared to have the go-ahead goal in the 60^th minute on a counterattack on a shot that sailed just high. Likewise, Swanson had a corner kick played to him in the 67^th minute but watched his deep shot ricochet off the football field uprights in the stadium for a goal kick.
 
Swanson took another long-range shot in the 74^th minute on a free kick, an attempt that was stopped with a fingertip save by Walsh's Nick Bertolini. On the ensuing corner kick, Lonjard added his name to the list of players the crossbar had denied before Fugl's rebound shot went inches high of the net.  
 
Dominic O'Connor became the difference maker for Walsh with 8:19 left in the game, capitalizing on a penalty kick for the Cavaliers that would go down as the game-winner. The PK occurred after five unanswered SRU shots in 26 minutes.
 
The Rock had one last opportunity with an 88^th-minute corner but were turned aside by the Cavaliers, who put together just the second blank slate against SRU in 16 games.
 
Walsh managed a 9-8 lead in shots and a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal, while SRU took five corner kicks as opposed to the Cavs' three. Ignacio Olguin tallied a game-high three shots for Walsh. Bertolini made one save.
 
The Rock will play their first home game of the 2024 season 3 p.m. Sept. 18 against the University of the District of Columbia at James Egli Field. SRU tied UDC a year ago, 2-2, in its season opener.





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