MEADVILLE — Slippery Rock’s boys soccer team arrived at Monday’s District 10 Class 2A semifinal against Mercyhurst Prep riding an 12-game unbeaten streak.

But the wave of offensive pressure it had been attacking teams with was slowed to a trickle and an early Mercyhurst goal was all the Lakers needed in a 2-0 defeat of the Rockets at Meadville High School’s Barco-Duratz Athletic Complex.

“We knew they like to set five guys back (on defense), so we were looking to quickly switch the field,” said Rockets’ coach Kyle Hopkins. “We felt if we could do that, it would create some opportunities on the outside, but we weren’t able to do it.”

Mercyhurst Prep’s second corner kick of the game, taken by Shea Weislogel to the right of Slippery Rock’s net in the 14th minute, led to Adam Dahl’s goal amid a crowd of players.

Dahl’s shot, his eighth goal of the season, beat Slippery Rock’s Connor Wallace to the goalkeeper’s right.

“We had been doing a good job of getting the ball out on corner kicks,” Hopkins said, “but there were a lot of guys in the box and the ball bounced around a bit.

“Connor ended up making some great saves to keep us in it. He’s a great goalie and a leader.”

Wallace finished the game with 15 saves, many of them diving stops. In the 64th minute, his teammate, Nate Jesteadt, showed up just in time to affect a shot following a crossing pass from the right.

The effort kept Slippery Rock’s deficit at one goal, but nine minutes later, Mercyhurst’s Eric Gamboa delivered the dagger, his 18th goal of the season that pushed the Lakers’ edge to 2-0.

Slippery Rock (15-4-1) was never able to maintain much of a presence at the other end of the field.

Lakers’ goalie Landon Spero had to make just three saves as Mercyhurst (15-3-1) focused much attention on Rockets’ senior striker Nick Kingerski, who scored 22 times this season.

“He’s dangerous and Slippery Rock’s an excellent team, but they couldn’t get behind our defense. We have three seniors starting back there,” said Mercyhurst coach Doug Bakka.

In the 67th minute, Kingerski sent a header toward Spero, but the goalie snagged it near the right post.

The Rockets’ campaign included a region title, won with an undefeated region record (9-0-1) which was capped with a defeat of Grove City on the last night of the regular season.

“We talk every year about being able to compete for a league title and a district title,” Hopkins said. “Our momentum just ran out tonight.”