Rock soccer year ends
Sean McLaughlin's goal in the 18th minute of play stood as seventh-ranked Millersville edge the Slippery Rock University men's soccer team 1-0 in the NCAA Division IIAtlantic Regional finals Saturday.
The Rock, which made its first regional final appearance, finished at 14-7-1. The win total tied for the second-most in program history (14-3 in 1975), behind 17-1-1 in 1974.
SRU outshot the Maraunders 11-6. SRU goalie Greg Blum made three saves in the game.
Host Mercyhurst used a pair of goals by All-America candidate Sarah Powell to take a 3-0 victory against The Rock in Saturday's NCAADivision IIAtlantic Regional semifinals.SRU (14-7-1) was outshot 22-8.
Grove City High graduate Julie Molloy scored a team-high 10 points and Nikki Presto and Jess Schake added nine apiece, but SRU fell to Kutztown 66-51 in Saturday's opening round of the Kutztown Tournament.Presto and Sasha Sales had 10 rebounds apiece for The Rock.In Sunday's game, Molloy tallied 17 points to lead four Rock players in double figures, but SRU dropped an 85-72 decision to LeMoyne (N.Y.) College.Sales and Amanda Nero added 12 points apiece while Schake had 11 points.
Katie Sines had three goals and Lora Gagiewski and Alli Zubi accounted for the other goals as SRU defeated Indiana (Pa.) 5-2.The Rock returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Villanova at BladeRunners in Warrendale.
Despite a wild finish, Grove City College held off Thiel 20-14 in Presidents' Athletic Conference action on Saturday to retain possession of the Mercer County Cup.With five seconds left, Tomcats quarterback Willie Bova attempted to spike the ball at the Grove City 16-yard line, but fumbled the snap and Thiel could not get off another play before time expired.Wolverines quarterback Andrew DiDonato threw for a career-high 278 yards on 24-of-31 passing and set a school record for single-season record with 1,923. He know has 5,043 career yards.Stephen Mercer caught 14 of those passes for 171 yards, nearly tying his school mark of 15 which came on Sept. 27.Mercer threw a 3-yard scoring pass to DiDonato on a fourth-and-goal. DiDonato would throw a 19-yard scoring pass to Mercer while Craig Bicehouse (Slippery Rock High) booted a career-long 42-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter and added a 29-yarder with 1:35 left to close out the scoring.
