Rockets reign supreme in region
SLIPPERY ROCK — A tie in Thursday’s game against rival Grove City would have earned a region title for Slippery Rock’s boys soccer team.
But the Rockets weren’t about to settle for a second stalemate this season against the Eagles.
Goals in the first half from Nick Kingerski and Gavin Siegfried stood up as Slippery Rock closed the regular season with a 2-1 victory at Troy-Alan Stadium.
The Rockets (14-3-1, 9-0-1) claimed their third region crown in five years.
“We won the region title with an undefeated record in 2018 and 2019, too,” said Slippery Rock coach Kyle Hopkins. “All the credit goes to the guys. I just try to put them in the right spot.”
When Grove City’s Pierson Badowski scored on Connor Wallace after the goalkeeper came off his line in the 35th minute, Hopkins admitted he had a flashback to the 2-2 tie the teams played to earlier this season.
Slippery Rock also had a 2-0 lead in that game.
“I had a case of deja vu there for a bit,” he said, “but we just told the guys at halftime to keep working at it.”
“Grove City is a good team and it’s a good rivalry, but we all gave 100 percent to get this win,” Wallace said.
The Eagles (13-4-1, 7-2-1) tested Wallace with multiple legitimate scoring chances in the second half.
Shortly after a Grove City corner kick in the 51st minute, Badowski put a shot on net from 10 yards that was saved by a diving Wallace near the right post. The sequence led to another corner kick, but the Rockets easily defended the second attempt.
In the 75th minute, Ben Donnelly’s shot sailed just wide left and moments later, Wallace made another diving stop on a shot from Gage Probst.
The Eagles’ final chance came off the foot of Isaac Dreves in the 78th minute, but was off the mark.
A number of other opportunities were gobbled up by Slippery Rock’s defense in the last 40 minutes.
“We put Nick (Kingerski) back there to help out on defense, but it just comes down to those guys doing whatever it takes to keep a team from scoring,” said Hopkins. “They’ve been working hard all year.”
Wallace finished the game with seven saves. Grove City’s Jacob Stucchio stopped eight shots.
Kingerski’s ice-breaker came in the eighth minute. Siegfried followed with his goal eight minutes later after Stucchio made diving saves on shots from Hunter Berry and Austin Hess.
The Rockets will enter the District 10 playoffs having gone 10-0-1 in their last 11 games.
“Everything’s working right now for us,” said Wallace. “We just want to build on that and hopefully, we can make a run.”
Prior to the game, Hopkins was recognized for his 150th coaching win, earned Tuesday with a victory over Hickory.
