Men’s soccer wins 3–2

The Carnegie Mellon men’s soccer team showed some character and composure in its come-from-behind 3–2 victory over the Juniata Eagles on the road Saturday.

Sophomore midfielder Ryan Browne scored the game-tying goal in the 64th minute, and then sophomore forward Patrick Lutz put the Tartans ahead for good with under 10 minutes to go. The Tartans improve to 3–0 on the season while Juniata drops to 1–5.

“It was a pretty exciting game,” sophomore forward Ricky Griffin said. “We had a disappointing first half and we were upset to be tied at 1–1. We were upset with a penalty call that they got. We stepped it up in the second half, came out hard. Even though we went down 2–1, we really stepped it up and showed some character to win the game. We’re happy with our effort.”

Griffin started the scoring for Carnegie Mellon in the fifth minute of the game, when he scored his team-leading third goal of the season. “Their right back passed it back to the center back and I read that so I intercepted it,” Griffin said. “I was on a breakaway and their goalie made the first save but I was able to put home the rebound. It was a good start.”

Juniata responded with a goal off a penalty kick right before halftime and then took the lead in the 59th minute.

“They got another free kick called in the middle of the field and they started it quick and ended up on the break and scored a goal,” Griffin said.

“When we were down 2–1 it was a little demoralizing,” Griffin said. “We were putting the pressure on in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Then for them to come back real quick and score, we thought we were going to get a goal, not them. We just kept playing, kept playing hard and we got the goals back.”

Browne’s goal off his free kick tied the game, and a nice string of passes in the 81st minute gave the Tartans the lead. “We had a nice combination in midfield,” Griffin said. “Browne to [sophomore midfielder Jonathan] Hall, and Hall flicked a pass to me and I made a lunge past the last defender and the ball went trickling to Pat [Lutz]. The goalie thought I might have gotten it in the middle, so Pat was able to put it into the empty goal. It was a good finish. We were excited about getting the lead back with less than 10 minutes left.”

Lutz’s second goal on the season proved to be the game winner as the Tartans won their third game in a row. Junior goalie Matthew Bazin earned the win, recording one save in 90 minutes.

The Tartan men’s soccer team returns home to face Penn State Altoona in a 7:30 p.m. match on Wednesday at Gesling Stadium.