Tartan men’s soccer beats La Roche 2–1

The Carnegie Mellon men’s soccer team played three games this past week against La Roche College, University of Rochester, and Case Western Reserve University.

The Tartans started on a good note, defeating the La Roche Redhawks 2–1 in double overtime Tuesday night.

The games over the weekend didn’t go as well, with the Tartans losing at Rochester 2–0 Friday and losing 3–1 at Case Sunday afternoon.
Against La Roche Tuesday, sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hall gave Carnegie Mellon the early lead in the 13th minute when he headed home a corner kick from first-year midfielder Max Betzig.

“On the first goal I had an opportunity right before the corner kick actually,” Hall said. “I kind of blew it. I was determined to at least get my head on the ball. I did that and it was a little floater and luckily it got over the keeper, so it was a nice one to start out with and jump out to an early lead.”
The Tartans took the 1–0 lead into halftime, but La Roche responded 79 seconds into the second half with the equalizer. Sophomore Redhawks Alaa Khdaier’s shot from 25 yards out got past Tartan junior goalkeeper Matthew Bazin.

The score remained deadlocked at one through the remainder of the second half and the first overtime. Sophomore midfielder Ryan Browne set up the game-winning goal when his cross from the right corner of the field sailed into the middle of the box. A sprinting Hall entered the box and redirected the cross into the right side of the goal to end the game.

“In overtime I was just trying to get into the box on that one because we knew how important it was not to tie this game,” Hall said. “That’s what coach said going into that overtime was that we just need to get guys into the box and get the ball in there and hope to see if we can put one in. Ryan had an awesome cross in and all I [had] to do was basically be in the right spot. He put it there and luckily we put it in.”

Carnegie Mellon’s University Athletic Association (UAA) weekend road trip started with a game Friday against Rochester. No goals were scored until the 70th minute when Rochester got on the board on a breakaway. The Yellowjackets added an insurance goal in the 72nd minute.

The Tartans had scoring chances throughout, but Rochester’s defense was up to the task. Rochester goalie Michael Peacock made five saves including one on a low rocket from Browne in the 58th minute.

The Tartans wrapped up the week yesterday with a UAA game against Case. Carnegie Mellon took the early lead before Case answered with a pair of goals before halftime. The Spartans added a third goal in the 58th minute.

Sophomore forward Patrick Lutz netted a goal in the 17th minute off a corner kick from first-year midfielder Adam Bogus. Case responded with goals in the 25th minute (off a penalty kick) and the 32nd minute (the game-winning goal).

Sophomore forward Ricky Griffin and the Tartan offense pressured the Spartans all day. Case goalie Chad Skidmore made eight saves in the game, including a pair of shots from Griffin in the 62nd and 63rd minutes.

“It seems that we’re getting into this habit [of coming from behind], and I don’t think it’s a particularly good one,” Hall said. “It does say something about our character that we’re able to come back and win games after being behind, or being tied, and coming back in the late minutes shows we don’t give up and that we have good character as a team. We have to take that character a bit farther, not give up goals, and put a complete game together. We need to not put ourselves in the situation where we have to come back in the late minutes of the game.”

The win against La Roche and the losses in the two important UAA games leaves Carnegie Mellon with a record of 7–3–1 overall and 0–3–1 in the UAA.
Carnegie Mellon men’s soccer will continue its season with a game on the road versus St. Vincent College Friday. The game will start at 4 p.m.