Kat Vasquez
Associate Sports Editor 

It was a triumphant win for men’s soccer and a bittersweet lost for women’s soccer at Pucillo Field which both teams were battling against Slippery Rock University this homecoming weekend. Overall both teams played tremendously and brought together a whole community of alumni, families, and students to cheer, celebrate and praise on both teams.

It was a bittersweet defeat for the Millersville women’s soccer on friday afternoon when Slippery Rock powered through and dominated the field leading to their win 2-1. This unfortunately leaded Millersville to dropped to a 10-3 in the PSAC overall and a 9-3 conference play. Slippery Rock improved their record to 8-4-2 and 6-4-2 in thier conference play.

How it all went down was when in the 32nd minute, the Marauders did what was thought to be a goal, but it turn out to be a foul in the box. Brooke Testa, from Slippery Rock was then awarded a penalty kick and eventually in the 25th minute, scored a goal.

There was a fast break opportunity that freshman Calista Paolino achieved when she began the attack with a pass from the attacking midfielder. She then passed it to sophomore Talia  Grynkewicz who dashed in by the defender inside the box and launched out and made a  goal in the 36th minute.

After halftime, Slippery Rock dominated and took lead when Jordyn Minda of Slippery Rock fired a shot towards the left side where it was saved by sophomore defender Chandler Garcia of Millersville. The ball bounced out to Skye Kramer of Slippery Rock who was only just a few feet away from the goalie concluding her to score another point for Slippery Rock.

Towards the last minute of the match, Kay Liebal of Millersville had an opportunity to score off the post and off the crossbar. Unfortunately, Liebal was not able to convert them into goals and time ran out, leading Slippery Rock to win.

After the match Women’s soccer coach Matt Procopio said, “ Overall we played well enough to achieve the result we had today. It was a very competitive play, but we were unable to win. However, we did a lot of pretty great things. I’m happy with how we didn’t give up and continued to fight until the end of the match.”

The Marauders take on Clarion University at 1:00 pm at  Pucillo Field Saturday, October 20th.

Meanwhile, Men’s soccer celebrated a victorious  win against Slippery Rock Friday afternoon at Pucillo Field. The Marauders made four goals from four different players to secure a 4-0 win over Slippery Rock. This win concluded an improvement to their PSAC conference play (6-3-4 overall and 4-2-1). While Slippery Rock slipped down to 4-8-2 and 2-4-1.

Highlights from the game started off with Jaxson Burns scoring a goal early in the first half with help of freshman Nathan Erb. Burns took the pass back, cut into the box and shot the ball just inside the right post. The crowd in the stadium went wild, cheering on for the first goal of the homecoming game.

Before halftime, senior Kyle Finsterbush threw the ball on the left side leading it towards Jadon Courtney who leaded the ball straight into the goalie, which concluded a 2-0 lead.

Four minutes after halftime, senior Chase Flickinger sent a corner kick to the top of the  box, which lead towards grad student Matt Liotta who fired the ball 25 yards out and into the left side of the net, scoring another goal for the Marauders. Later on, junior Nicholas Leinbach took

a penalty kick and his shot was at first saved, but it bounced off the goalie’s hand, which Leinbach saw this opportunity to score. This was the final goal for the match, and Millersville won 4-0 outshooting Slippery Rock University.

This was Lioatta, Leinbach, and Courtney first goals for the season which made coach Steve Widdowson proud. “We are all really happy for those guys and they gave some solid contributions today on both sides of the ball.”

The Marauders take on Bloomsburg University Wednesday, October 17th at 7 pm at Pucillo Field. They also go on the road to take on Pitt-Johnstown University on Saturday, October 20th at 12:00 pm. Coach  Widdowson said, “We are prepared and  ready for them.”