MEADVILLE — Both Slippery Rock soccer teams saw their season come to an end Monday with District 10 Class 2A semifinal losses at the hands of defending champions.

The Rocket boys fell to Fairview, 2-0, while Villa Maria dominated the second half in a 5-1 victory over the girls at Meadville High School's Barco-Duratz Athletic Complex.

Slippery Rock's boys had defeated Fairview, 2-1, earlier this season, but Rockets' coach Kyle Hopkins knew that meant little in the rematch.

“Fairview reached the state semifinals last year and they brought a very strong core of guys back,” he said. “We knew this was going to be very tough.”

The Tigers (16-3-1) broke the ice when junior forward Zach Scott headed a pass from the right just inside the left post in the 18th minute.

The Rockets had several rushes in the attacking third earlier in the first half, thanks to the play of forward Cullen Birkes, but did not force Fairview goalkeeper Richie DeArment to make a save until the final 15 minutes before halftime.

“I would have liked to have seen us let loose a few more shots early,” said Hopkins. “I felt like we played the full 80 minutes tonight, but just couldn't put the ball in the net.”

Slippery Rock junior goalkeeper Connor Wallace stopped nine shots in the game and came off his line a number of times to pull the plug on other scoring chances for the Tigers.

“He was phenomenal, kept us in the game,” Hopkins said. “I can't say enough about Connor's play tonight.”

Fairview went up 2-0 in the 61st minute when Josh Howells got to a ball before a charging Wallace. The former then got just enough on his shot with heat being applied by a Rocket defender.

Tigers' coach Sonny Vidakovic said his team has felt the pressure of being defending district champion all season long. Maybe it played a role in Fairview not being as sharp Monday as he had hoped.

“We didn't play that well,” he said. “Slippery Rock had a good game plan and we struggled with this being a smaller field.”

The Rockets put much pressure on DeArment late. Nick Kingerski had several scoring opportunities, with the goalkeeper preserving the shutout by denying the junior forward in the final minute.

DeArment finished with five saves.

After going 6-8-2 last year, Slippery Rock had an impressive turnaround with a 12-4-3 record this season.

“The boys dug deep and l'm proud of their effort,” said Hopkins.

Girls Soccer Villa Maria 5, Slippery Rock 1

Play in the first half gave no indication that the Victors would win going away.

Villa Maria scored first on Alexa Tojaga's goal in the 5th minute of play, but Slippery Rock responded five minutes later when junior Emma Hays sent an arcing shot from the left corner over the head of Villa goalkeeper Addie Stark.

Both teams traded scoring chances for the rest of the half, but Villa began to tilt the field in its favor after intermission. The Rockets were able to keep the score knotted at 1-1 for a while, thanks to defensive plays like those from Eve Miller and Maya Turner.

In the 51st minute, Miller stepped in to intercept a through ball that would have left a wide open shot on goalkeeper Ava Daugherty.

Turner blocked a shot by Ella Raimondi, taken just 15 yards from the net in the 56th minute.

But a scoring spree — four goals in an 8-minute span — sent the Victors to Thursday's district final.

“We worked in practice on offensive patterns we believed would work against their defensive formation,” said Rockets' coach Sarah Vermilya. “They did work (in putting pressure on Villa) in the first half, but we didn't have the same scoring opportunities in the second half.

“We just didn't play a strong game for the full 80 minutes.”

All five of Villa's goals came from two players. Tojaga scored twice while Raimondi tallied a hat trick.

“At halftime, we talked about getting the ball to open spaces,” said Villa coach Peter Wagner. “We took advantage of that.

“Ella (39 goals) and Alexa (15 goals) are two of our top players.”

Stark stopped three shots in net for Villa (14-4), which is attempting to win its third straight district championship.

Daugherty made seven saves for the Rockets, who won a region championship this fall and finish the season with a record of 14-5.