SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team will kick off its 2024 campaign by traveling to D'Youville University for the first time in program history 2 p.m. Thursday.
WATCH LIVE
Fans can watch Thursday's game live for free via the links below provided by D'Youville Athletic Communications.
HALL OF FAME WEEKEND
Slippery Rock will induct its 40th Athletics Hall of Fame class Friday evening and will recognize the seven-person class during halftime of Saturday's football game against New Haven.
Among this year's honorees is 1995 graduate Ryan Gillespie, who was a three-time All-PSAC honoree and a three-time All-Region selection as a defender on The Rock men's soccer team from 1990-93.
Gillespie went on to spend the 1994 season as an assistant coach with the SRU women's soccer team and the 1995 season as an assistant with both the men's and women's soccer teams. Following his time at The Rock, he continued his playing career by making the U.S. National Beach Soccer Team and participating in several tournaments, including the 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Brazil.
More information about the Hall of Fame Class of 2024 is available
HERE.
GAME 1 of 16
Opponent: D'Youville
Date: Thursday – 2 p.m.
Location: Buffalo, New York
Venue: Dobson Field
Live Video: ECC Sports Network
Live Stats: D'Youville Athletic Communications
In-game Updates: X (@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: N/A – First Meeting
SERIES HISTORY
D'Youville is set to become the 95
th unique opponent that The Rock men's soccer team has played in program history.
Now members of the East Coast Conference, the Saints joined the Division II ranks in 2020 after spending over a decade in Division III's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.
| TEAM COMPARISON |
| The Rock |
2023 Stats |
D'Youville |
| 5-8-4 |
Overall Record |
0-13 |
| 4-6 |
Conference Record |
0-8 |
| 1.7 |
Goals per Game |
0.4 |
| 2.1 |
Opp. Goals per Game |
5.2 |
| -8 |
Season Goal Differential |
-62 |
| 11.9 |
Shots per Game |
7.2 |
| 12.0 |
Opp. Shots per Game |
30.2 |
| 5.5 |
SOG per Game |
2.9 |
| 5.9 |
Opp. SOG per Game |
14.3 |
| 1.5 |
Assists per Game |
0.2 |
| 5.6 |
Corners per Game |
2.7 |
| 11.4 |
Fouls per Game |
9.3 |
| 3.8 |
Saves per Game |
9.2 |
THE ROCK BY THE NUMBERS
2023 Overall Record: 5-8-4
2023 PSAC West Record: 4-6
2023 Home Record: 4-3-1
2023 Away Record: 1-5-3
2023 PSAC West Rank: 4
th of 6
Head Coach: Kevin Wilhelm | Seventh season at SRU (37-90-15)
Roster: Link
Stats: Link
LAST TIME OUT
Slippery Rock finished its 2023 season just one spot shy of qualifying for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament, concluding the year with a 5-8-4 overall record and a 4-6 showing in conference play.
Last year's season included a 4-3-1 record while playing within the friendly confines of James Egli Field, marking SRU's best record at home in four years.
SCORING RETURNERS
Slippery Rock is returning 22 of its players from last year, 81.5 percent of the 2023 roster. That group includes 100 percent of SRU's goalscoring and 95.1 percent of SRU's points from a year ago.
Of the seven goalscorers SRU benefitted from in 2023,
Aitor Jorde led the team with 10 while
Arturo Pla Hernandis produced nine, combining for 19 of the squad's 28 total goals (67.9 percent).
Luke Gildea,
Gabin Lonjard and
Aashi Pandher all return after netting two goals last year. The Rock will also welcome back
Will Harrigan and
Ignacio Rullan, who both contributed one goal last season.
Gildea joined
Shaun Spencer in leading the team in assists with four apiece. One of Slippery Rock's most noticeable absences will be that of
Joe Skillicorn, who matched
Jeroen Van Der Veen with three assists last year.
Ryan Hanes and
Chris Mitchell will also return after generating one assist each in the 2023 season.
COLTON AND COLTON, WELCOME TO THE ROCK
In addition to the wealth of experience Slippery Rock's returners bring to the pitch, The Rock will look to utilize transfers
Colton Spence and
Colton Swanson.
Spence began his collegiate career with three years at Division I Robert Morris University. As a defender, Spence appeared in 17 games for the Colonials. The Cheswick, Pennsylvania native scored one goal in his freshman year, a dramatic 88
th-minute equalizer against Green Bay.
Swanson comes to The Rock as a graduate student following four years entrenched in PSAC soccer at Lock Haven University. The defensive midfielder tallied 16 career points on four goals and eight assists in 44 games, 42 of which he started.
Swanson's most notable accolade in his time with the Bald Eagles came in 2021 when he was named the PSAC Men's Soccer Champion Scholar. A native of Bradford, Pennsylvania, Swanson became just the third LHU student-athlete in any sport to win the award.
MORE NEW FACES ON THE FIELD
Slippery Rock's recruiting class also features seven freshmen:
2024 Rock men's soccer freshmen (Hometown / High School)
#0 – GK –
Dante Accamando (Sewickley, Pa. / North Allegheny)
#00 – GK –
Alvey Kaufman (Rockledge, Fla. / Viera)
#11 – F –
Kaden Reynolds (Mount Albert, Ontario / Bill Crothers)
#15 – MF –
Gerard Lopez Marti (Burriana, Spain / Salesianos Burriana)
#16 – MF –
Jimmy Irani (Grove City, Pa. / Grove City)
#19 – F –
Rasmus Fugl (Copenhagen, Denmark / Zealand Business College)
#30 – GK –
Dylan Bliss (Lancaster, Pa. / Lampeter-Strasburg)
BACK ON THE SIDELINE
Head coach
Kevin Wilhelm will begin his seventh year at the helm of The Rock men's soccer team. Wilhelm is coming off one of his most decorated years at SRU, featuring the program's first all-region selection in seven years and the largest group of College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honorees in team history.
Wilhelm begins the 2024 season with 37 career wins – 30 of which have come at Slippery Rock. A former SRU men's soccer player himself, Wilhelm ranks eighth in all-time wins among the program's head coaches. With four more wins, Wilhelm would tie Jim Herlinger for seventh.
CONSISTENCY IN OPENERS
Slippery Rock has avoided losses in three of its last four season openers, claiming draws with Cedarville University in 2019, No. 25 Lake Erie College in 2021 and the University of the District of Columbia last year.
The Rock have gone .500 through their last four road openers, maintaining a 1-1-2 record that includes a 1-0 win at the University of Findlay in 2021.
A win at D'Youville would be SRU's first true season-opening victory since a 2-1 outcome at Malone University in 2015.
WELCOME TO NEW YORK
SRU's trek to D'Youville will mark Slippery Rock's 21
st all-time recorded game in New York. The Rock have gone 9-10-1 in program history while playing in the Empire State, most recently tussling to a 1-1 tie at Roberts Wesleyan University last season.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
Slippery Rock has gone 12-17-11 (.438) in non-conference matchups over the last five years. The Rock enter their season opener on a 16-season streak of winning at least one non-conference game, a stroke of consistency that dates to 2007.
SRU also rides a three-game unbeaten streak against ECC members entering Thursday's fixture. The Rock are 3-3-2 (.500) versus teams in the ECC through the last three years.
PRESEASON PROJECTIONS
The Rock men's soccer team was voted fourth in the 2024 PSAC West preseason coaches' poll, the conference office announced Aug. 14.
No. 7 Gannon University, which was undefeated in league play a year ago, took the top spot of the poll along with five first-place votes. Seton Hill University was slotted second while Lock Haven, which moves over from the PSAC East to fill Mercyhurst University's void, got the final first-place vote while landing third in the division.
Slippery Rock finished ahead of California (Pa.) and Pitt-Johnstown in fifth and sixth, respectively.
No. 25 Millersville University, winners of the 2023 PSAC Championship, led the way in the PSAC East with five first-place votes. West Chester University had the final first-place vote in second followed by Bloomsburg University, East Stroudsburg University, Shepherd University and Shippensburg University.
A COACHING CONNECTION
Thursday's game will present a unique opportunity for Jorde, who will be playing against his club team coach. Jorde spent the past summer competing for FC Buffalo, a USL League Two team in the fourth tier of the American soccer system.
Sean Hallas, FC Buffalo's first-year head coach, will also be making his Division II coaching debut Thursday with the Saints. Hallas led FC Buffalo to a 5-4-3 record this past season, finishing fourth out of six teams in the Central Conference Valley Division.
Appearing in all 12 games for FC Buffalo, Jorde tallied two goals and an assist on the year.
AROUND THE WORLD
SRU's 2024 roster is comprised of student-athletes from seven different countries as well as three U.S. states:
Pennsylvania – 18
Florida – 1 (
Alvey Kaufman)
Virginia – 1 (
Will Harrigan)
Canada – 2 (
Aashi Pandher,
Kaden Reynolds)
Denmark – 1 (
Rasmus Fugl)
England – 2 (
Aaron Finney,
Shaun Spencer)
France – 1 (
Gabin Lonjard)
Netherlands – 1 (
Jeroen Van Der Veen)
Spain – 4 (
Aitor Jorde,
Gerard Lopez Marti,
Arturo Pla Hernandis,
Ignacio Rullan)
The 2024 PSAC men's soccer season will feature over 80 international players, representing more than 25 countries. Of those players, Fugl is the conference's lone player hailing from Denmark.
RECORD WATCH
Pla Hernandis begins his senior campaign in contention to rise through the program's top 20 in multiple different statistical categories. With 60 shots on goal, he currently ranks fourth in school history, just four shots on target behind Toby Bowser (2007-10) for third all-time.
A native of Beniparrell, Spain, Pla Hernandis also stacks up eighth all-time in total shots with 125. He is four shot attempts behind Nick Christy's 129 earned from 2004-07.
Pla Hernandis is also tied for 19
th with 21 career goals. Two players are tied for 17
th with 22 goals while a two-way tie also exists for 15
th with 23 goals.
THE SAINTS BY THE NUMBERS
2023 Overall Record: 0-13
2023 ECC Record: 0-8
2023 Home Record: 0-9
2023 Away Record: 0-4
2023 ECC Rank: 9
th of 9
Head Coach: Sean Hallas | First season at DYU
Roster: Link
Stats: Link
D'YOUVILLE SCOUTING REPORT
The Saints are entering a new era of soccer with both a first-year head coach as well as the addition of 19 players to their roster. Despite an 0-13 record that saw a -62 goal differential, D'Youville was picked eighth out of nine teams in the 2024 ECC Preseason Coaches Poll last month.
DYU was led by Ethan Robinson last year, a true freshman with two goals and one assist. Robinson, who is back with the Saints this year, placed 12 of his team-high 28 shots on target.
D'Youville and newly appointed head coach Hallas will be eager to snap a 24-game losing skid that began after a 3-0 defeat of Pitt-Johnstown Sept. 5, 2022. After spending three years as the head coach for former Division III school Medaille College, Hallas accumulated a 25-7-7 (.731) record with the Mavericks.
LOOKING AHEAD
SRU will stay on the road for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 11 when it travels to Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio.
To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on 'X' (formerly Twitter, @Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).
