SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University men's soccer team kicks off the 2026 season on the road 1 p.m. Thursday at Dobson Field against D'Youville University. This will be the third consecutive season that The Rock and the Saints match up to open the campaign.
WATCH LIVE
Fans can watch Thursday's game live on Flo Sports via the links below provided by D'Youville Athletic Communications. Flo Sports is a subscription-based video streaming platform.
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HERE.
GAME 1 of 17
Opponent: D'Youville
Date: Thursday – 1 p.m.
Location: Buffalo, New York
Venue: Dobson Field
Live Video: Link
Live Stats: Link
In-Game Updates: X (@Rock_Athletics)
All-Time Series: 2-0 SRU
Current Streak: W2
Last Played: Sept. 4, 2025 (SRU won 1-0)
SERIES HISTORY
SRU and D'Youville have faced off in each of the two previous seasons, which are the only two matchups in the series history.
The Rock have a 2-0-0 record against the Saints, earning 1-0 victories in both games with
Aitor Jorde grabbing the game-winning goal in 2024 and
Jimmy Irani clinching the game in 2025.
| TEAM COMPARISON |
| The Rock |
2025 Stats |
D'Youville |
| 7-7-3 |
Overall Record |
4-9-3 |
| 4-4-2 |
Conference Record |
2-5-1 |
| 1.12 |
Goals per Game |
1.50 |
| 1.59 |
Opp. Goals per Game |
2.00 |
| -8 |
Season Goal Differential |
-8 |
| 11.6 |
Shots per Game |
12.2 |
| 10.9 |
Opp. Shots per Game |
11.1 |
| 5.0 |
SOG per Game |
5.4 |
| 4.6 |
Opp. SOG per Game |
5.8 |
| 1.0 |
Assists per Game |
0.9 |
| 3.7 |
Corners per Game |
5.3 |
| 12.2 |
Fouls per Game |
11.8 |
| 3.0 |
Saves per Game |
3.8 |
ROCK BY THE NUMBERS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS (2025)
2025 Overall Record: 7-7-3
2025 PSAC West Record: 4-4-2
2025 Home Record: 6-3
2025 Away Record: 1-4-3
2025 PSAC West Rank: 4
th of 6
Head Coach: Kevin Wilhelm | Ninth Season at SRU (53-101-23)
Alma Mater: Slippery Rock '98
LAST TIME OUT
Slippery Rock closed out the 2025 campaign with a 7-7-3 record overall and a 4-4-2 mark inside the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division. The Rock fell just one point short of making the PSAC Tournament, preventing them from making back-to-back trips to the conference tournament.
SRU kept an impressive 6-3 record at Egli Field, but managed to win just one game away from home with a 1-4-3 ledger on the road. Slippery Rock will look to return to form on the road as it tallied a 5-2-2 mark away from Egli Field in the year prior (2024).
CHANGES TO THE PSAC TOURNAMENT
The PSAC Tournament has expanded from a six-team format to eight teams. Four teams from both the Eastern and Western Divisions will qualify for the conference tournament in 2026.
2026 PSAC PRESEASON POLLS
First-place votes in parentheses
West Division
1) Gannon (5)
2) Seton Hill (1)
3) Lock Haven
4) Slippery Rock
5) California (Pa.)
6) Pitt-Johnstown
East Division
1) Millersville (4)
2) West Chester (2)
3) Bloomsburg
4) East Stroudsburg
5) Shepherd
6) Shippensburg
SEASON OPENER SUCCESS
Slippery Rock holds a 48-31-8 record in season openers and 22-17-5 in those contests at road.
SRU has played 38 unique opponents in season openers since its first campaign in 1934. Slippery Rock's most played opponent in season opener's is St. Bonaventure with seven, where The Rock hold a 6-0-1 record.
KEY RETURNERS
The Rock returns much of their production from 2025 to this year's edition. Slippery Rock brings back 94.4 percent (17/18) of its goals and 70.6 percent (12/17) of its assists this season.
Kaden Reynolds led the charge offensively in 2025 with eight goals and one assist for 17 points, as the only Rock player to reach double digits in the points department.
Zsombor Retfalvi followed Reynolds with two goals and four assists for eight points. Retfalvi was the only Rock player last season to record multiple goals and assists.
Aashi Pandher returns for his senior season after tallying one goal and three assists for five points last year. Pandher's three assists were third on the team.
Irani,
Gabin Lonjard and
Patrick Tierney round out the SRU returners with multiple goals as each found the back of the net twice in 2025.
Cornelis Dedecker departed from The Rock after one season, scoring one goal and dishing out five assists for the team lead.
Although SRU returns an abundance of experience up front, it does not return its starting goalkeeper,
Alvey Kaufman. With Kaufman gone, The Rock only return 21 percent of goalie minutes from 2025 (320:51 of 1,530).
Last season, Kaufman went 5-6-3 with a 1.79 goals against average and a .642 save percentage with four shutouts.
Troy Nine returns for SRU after backing up Kaufman last season, starting four games and going 2-1-0 with a 0.86 GAA and a .700 save percentage with two shutouts in 315 minutes (78.75 minutes/game).
Dylan Bliss also returns on goal for The Rock. Bliss appeared in one game for SRU last season in a 2-0 win versus Daemen University.
2026 NEWCOMERS
SRU made three additions through the portal as well as a freshman class of seven athletes.
Caleb Alldredge and
Tom Roantree come in a transfer forwards from Division II and Division III schools, respectively. Alldredge scored one goal and two assists for the University of Alabama-Huntsville in two seasons, while Roantree tallied 14 points on six goals and two assists since the start of the 2024 season at North Carolina Wesleyan University.
Patryk Strzelak transfers in to support The Rock at the midfield position. Over two seasons at Bryant and Stratton College in Rochester as well as Herkimer Community College, Strzelak collected 17 points on five goals and seven assists.
2026 SRU FRESHMAN CLASS
Name-Position-Hometown (in Pennsylvania unless noted)
Javier Garrido Burgos – Defender – Plasencia, Spain
Xavier Jackson – Forward – Bethel Park
Kristian Mazar – Goalkeeper – Highland Heights, Ohio
Christopher Merrill – Midfielder – Virgina Beach, Va.
Sie Parker – Defender – Baton Rouge, La.
Fynn Uebele – Defender – Ulm, Germany
Boele Zwartele – Midfielder – Amsterdam, Netherlands
AROUND THE WORLD
SRU's 2026 roster is comprised of student-athletes from seven different countries as well as six U.S. states:
Pennsylvania – 8
Canada – 3 (
Massimo Cuda,
Aashi Pandher,
Kaden Reynolds)
England – 3 (
Patrick Tierney,
Tom Roantree,
Patryk Strzelak)
Netherlands – 2 (
Michael Vandersmissen,
Boele Zwartele)
Ohio – 2 (
Jonathan Anthony,
Kristian Mazar)
Spain – 2 (
Javier Garrido Burgos,
Gerard Lopez Marti)
Alabama – 1 (
Caleb Alldredge)
France – 1 (
Gabin Lonjard)
Germany – 1 (
Fynn Uebele)
Hungary – 1 (
Zsombor Retfalvi)
Louisiana – 1 (
Sie Parker)
North Carolina – 1 (
Plamedi Warsinsky)
Virginia – 1 (
Christopher Merrill)
D'YOUVILLE BY THE NUMBERS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS (2025)
2025 Overall Record: 4-9-3
2025 ECC Record: 2-5-1
2025 Home Record: 4-3-1
2025 Away Record: 0-6-1
2025 Neutral Record: 0-0-1
2025 ECC Rank: 7
th of 9
Head Coach: Sean Hallas | Third season at DYU (9-17-7)
Alma Mater: William Carrey '17
D'YOUVILLE SCOUTING REPORT
The Saints look to improve on their 4-9-3 record from a season ago as the East Coast Conference coaches voted D'Youville to finish seventh out of nine teams in the preseason poll. The Saints return numerous familiar faces as five of the top six leaders in points from 2025, as well as every athlete that scored multiple goals for the Saints last season.
Dylan Danch led D'Youville with six goals and three assists for 15 points. Danch was the lone Saint with double-digit points in 2025. Luca Mansfield-Osborne and Ethan Robinson followed Danch with eight points apiece. Mansfield-Osborne collected four goals, while Robinson had three markers and two assists. Shawn Richardson and Finn Savage round out DYU's returners as Richardson had seven points on three goals and one assist, while Savage collected two goals and two assists for six points a season ago.
Matthew Solorio heads the backline as the goalkeeper has started 31 of a possible 34 games for the Saints over the past two seasons. Over those 31 starts, Solorio has a 9-17-5 record with four shutouts and 1.63 GAA with a .701 save percentage.
LOOKING AHEAD
Slippery Rock continues its non-conference slate with a matchup 6 p.m. Sept. 2 at Larry Staudt Field against Walsh University.
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).
