Jon Holtz here… Things got a little crazy for me at the end of the fall sports seasons, so it’s been a while since I checked in, but I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on some things happening around The Rock.
• First off, congratulations are in order for
The Rock women’s soccer team, which reached the second round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament this fall. SRU, under the direction of 16th-year head coach
Noreen Herlihy, finished the season with a school record unbeaten streak of 15 games, including a 2-2 tie with No. 4 West Chester and a 1-1 tie with No. 10 California (Pa.).
• Along the lines with the women’s soccer theme, I have to say how impressed I was by the support for the team throughout the postseason. I traveled to all the PSAC and NCAA playoff games, all over the state, and I was routinely impressed with how far fans, particularly parents, traveled to get to the games. I can’t name all names, but I know
Dana Kiger’s parents must have driven thousands of miles in a two-week period, coming from Cincinnati, Ohio all the way to Bloomsburg, West Chester and California (Pa.). It seemed like every time I pulled into one of those stadiums, they were the first ones to pull in right behind me. I also saw the Paganie family at every game, including the men's PSAC playoff game, and I know that
Juliana Howell's parents made a special trip to the airport to pick up
Emer Flatley (flying in from Ireland!) before the West Chester game.
• Kudos to
Ashley Paganie, who broke the SRU career record for assists with an assist in the NCAA second round game at Cal. She finishes her career with 26 assists.
• The women’s soccer team was inspiration for the current fan poll on our site, asking which is the most exciting conclusion to an NCAA contest. The SRU women were forced to play in two penalty kick shootouts in the postseason, narrowly being edged by West Chester and Cal.
• Speaking of shootouts, there was plenty of shootout action around the PSAC this postseason, with West Chester and Cal playing to a shootout twice, once in the PSAC title game and once in the regional title game. WCU came out on top in both of those, but lost in a shootout against No. 1 Saint Rose in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
• The fall isn’t officially over yet, as we can’t forget about cross country standout
Jen Harpp as she prepares for the
Division II National Championships this Saturday in Louisville, Ky. Jen earned All-America honors with an 11th-place finish at the NCAA meet last year, which was the highest finish ever for a Slippery Rock female. So far this season, she has earned first team All-PSAC and All-Region honors already. Best of luck to Jen this weekend!
• Basketball season is in full swing now, with both The Rock men and women having four games under their belts. Both teams are in the midst of a road swing, but we will see some more action at Morrow Field House before the turn of the New Year. The women’s team will host Notre Dame College (Ohio) Dec. 11 and the men’s team will host Ohio University Eastern and Grove City College Dec. 29 and Dec. 30. We will run
live stats for all home basketball games.
• Trip to The Big House: The Rock football program was honored Nov. 20 at the University of Michigan’s final home game of the season. Included in the tribute was a video message played on the jumbotron detailing the history of the relationship between SRU and Michigan. View that video, as well as other videos from that day on our
official YouTube channel.
• Lots-o-Blogs: You may have noticed in the last couple weeks, we have added a few more blogs to the site. Thanks to SID Bob McComas for tracking down former SRU baseball standout Matt Adams, who has agreed to write a blog chronicling his experiences playing minor league baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. We have also added blogs from the SRU baseball, women’s soccer and women’s basketball teams, as well as a blog by NFL prospect Brandon Fusco. I spoke with a few more SRU coaches recently, and I am happy to report we will be seeing even more blogs in the coming weeks. You can access all of the current blogs on
the blog homepage.
• Don’t forget about the submission button! There were actually a couple software kinks with the button originally, but those have been worked out and the button is fully functioning. Have a story you want to share with us? We love hearing about former SRU student-athletes and finding out what everyone is doing in life after The Rock. You can also share any feedback you may have about the blogs, the Web site, the videos or anything else related to Rock Athletics.
For the sake of keeping this short, I'll postpone some other ideas for another day. In the coming days, you'll see some updates about The Rock's first-year coaches, the field hockey team posting its most successful season since 1998 and some postseason awards racked up by Slippery Rock student-athletes this fall.
Until then... Go Rock!
Jon Holtz
Assistant SID
