Slippery Rock tops GC, wins region soccer title
GROVE CITY — Ben Magliocca's preparations for Slippery Rock's boys soccer game against Grove City started before the school bus even came.
The Rockets' senior captain was busy picking out a black tie to go along with his blue and purple dress shirt.
“Whenever we have a big game, that's when we want to dress for success,” Magliocca said.
Magliocca scored twice Wednesday night at Forker Field, helping the Rockets beat Grove City 5-1 to win the Region 2-AA title.
A loss would have forced Slippery Rock (10-5, 8-2) to share its first region title since 2011 with Wilmington.
“I wanted to be single winners,” Magliocca said.
Slippery Rock wanted to avoid what happened in its first match with the Eagles (8-7, 5-5).
Grove City generated fewer offensive opportunities, but blanked Slippery Rock 1-0 Sept. 29.
“It was frustrating, because you come into here thinking 'What if it happens again?'” Rockets senior striker Gavin McHattie said. “We couldn't let that get into our heads.”
After several early chances, McHattie got things rolling.
He took a pass in the 14th minute and lofted it from about 15 yards out past Grove City keeper Shaun Flynn.
“It helped let down the mood and get everyone calmed down and keep focused,” McHattie said. “We ended up being relentless. We kept scoring goals and kept the pressure up.”
McHattie's shot was the first of four goals Slippery Rock scored in the first half.
Magliocca headed a ball off a free kick just under the crossbar to double the lead nine minutes later.
Chase Baxa and Nick Stutz also tallied goals before halftime.
“They pushed real hard,” Grove City coach Matt Nichols said. “We had a hard time when we came down on offense. We had a hard time going as a team. ... We needed to get more people up.”
Magliocca scored his second goal to put Slippery Rock ahead 5-0 in the 45th minute.
“We moved the ball, communicated and finished our chances,” Rockets coach Kyle Hopkins said. “By putting in those goals early on set the tone and allowed us to win the region outright.”
The Eagles' lone goal came with 4:08 remaining when Kyle Wilson scored. Grove City was eliminated from the postseason chase with the loss.
Magliocca was happy with how the Rockets closed region play. It was worth the extra prep work before school.
“We were all focused coming in,” Magliocca said. “Stretching, we were focused, on the bus we were focused and we dressed for success at school today.”
