Box Score

Slippery Rock, Pa. — The 18th-ranked Millersville men's soccer team conceded a goal to Anthony Paganie with less than 13 minutes remaining in regulation and 11th-ranked Slippery Rock rode the marker to a 2-1 PSAC-opening victory at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

Thompson Stadium is turning into a house of horrors for the Marauders (1-1, 0-1 PSAC). The team saw its PSAC Championship and NCAA Tournament hopes vanish there a year ago, and Millersville is now winless in its last six tries there since 2002 (0-5-1).

Neither team came up with a goal in first half action. Millersville took five of its nine shots in the game in the opening 45 minutes, with two of those being stopped by Slippery Rock (2-0-1, 1-0 PSAC) keeper Greg Blum. The Rock, meanwhile, registered four shots in the opening half. Matt Langione only had to make one save, and that came on an attempt from Paganie in the 28th minute.

Slippery Rock would break the scoreless tie 5:08 into the second half. Patrick Conley collected the rebound off of a blocked shot from Kenneth Fultz and beat Langione amidst goalmouth traffic. The goal was Conley's first of the season and Fultz earned an assist on the play.

Just over 10 minutes later the Marauders answered with the equalizer. Pat Baffuto knocked a shot into an open left side of the net off of a second chance free kick. The initial free kick, which was taken by Kyle Loughlin, was blocked by a wall of Rock players, but the referee deemed that The Rock's wall did not give Millersville the standard 10-feet of space of separation between the ball and the setup of the wall. For Baffuto, the goal was his second of the season.

A great pass from Fultz would catch the Marauders off guard leading to Paganie's late tally. Fultz played the ball down the right side of the field where a streaking Paganie collected it and raced toward the Millersville goal unabated. Paganie's shot beat Langione to the lower left corner of the net and gave the defending PSAC Champions a lead they would protect over the final 12 minutes and change.

Pressing late to knot the game, Langione served a ball into the box that Loughlin headed towards the Slippery Rock net. Unfortunately, Blum was able to make the save at the goal line with less than a minute to go to preserve the victory.

The loss was Millersville's first in a conference-opener since 2005 and snapped the Marauders' 20-game conference winning streak, which dated back to 2007. The last two seasons the PSAC switched to a two-division format that saw only games against PSAC Eastern Division opponents count in the conference standings. This year the conference went back to a one-division format with games against all fellow PSAC foes counting.

Millersville will try to even up its PSAC record on Saturday evening when Lock Haven visits Chryst Field for a 7:30 p.m., tilt. Millersville will honor 50 years of men's soccer with a halftime ceremony that evening.