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Slippery Rock, Pa. — Down 1-0 and with their backs against the wall, the No. 1 Millersville men's soccer team got off the mat and fought with everything to claw back into Saturday night's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship game. In the end, No. 12 Slippery Rock was just too much, escaping N. Kerr Thompson Stadium with a 2-1 win.

The Rock (17-3-1) put themselves on the board in the 31st minute to take a 1-0 lead. Marauders' keeper Matt Langione came out to challenge Kenneth Fultz, but misplayed the ball. Fultz sent the ball across the box to a wide open Jeremy Deighton, who headed in his 17th tally of the season.

Millersville (17-2) may have been handed its biggest blow three minutes later. Langione, coming out to play a ball, struck it with his hand outside of the 18 yard box, an action the referee deemed intentional. Langione was assessed a red card and was ejected from the game. In addition, the red card carries a one-game suspension, which will withhold Langione's participation from the first round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional.

With just 64 minutes of action all season, backup keeper Kurt Pleier was pressed into immediate action in the team's biggest game of the season. Millersville was faced with an uphill climb the rest of the way, as it played down a man in a game where it needed to rally. That climb got steeper in the 51st minute when Iain Langstone beat a defender and then beat Pleier one-on-one. Deighton picked up a helper on the play.

Leading-scorer Kyle Loughlin picked the Marauders up in the 61st minute, cutting the Slippery Rock lead in half. Loughlin collected a ball in the box, turned and ripped his 13th goal of the season —unassisted— past Slippery Rock keeper Greg Blum.

Pleier was fantastic, however, helping the Marauders stay alive. The sophomore robbed Deighton midway through the second half and made four saves over the final 40 minutes.

On the other end, Blum made two key saves down the stretch to keep the Marauders at bay. Despite playing down a man, it was Millersville that controlled a majority of play in the second half.

It's the second straight season that the Black and Gold has advanced to the PSAC Championship, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion. The Marauders fall to 0-6 all-time in the conference title game. Slippery Rock, meanwhile, won its second title since 2005 and third overall.

The Rock outshot Millersville 12-10 for the game and held an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal. In addition to Loughlin's goal, Pat Baffuto and Anthony Pagnotti had shots on net. The contest featured 24 fouls, with MU holding a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.

Millersville now awaits its seeding in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional, which will be announced on Monday.