Women's soccer dominates Washington and Jefferson

The Carnegie Mellon women’s soccer team took the field at home on Wednesday to face off against Washington and Jefferson College. The Tartans dominated the Presidents 4–0, which improves the Tartans’ record to 3–2 on the season.

The game began slowly, but the Tartans started to apply pressure by playing on the opposing side of the field and getting some early shots on goal. Junior midfielder Tori Iatarola had two shots on goal early in the game, both ending wide of the goal.

The Presidents also had a shot on goal in the 13th minute, but it bounced off the post and the Tartans maintained subtle control of the game. The first score came in the 22nd minute, when junior defender Alex Moy connected with first-year forward Sydney Webber in the midfield. Webber then found sophomore forward Kaily Bruch on the sideline, and Bruch skirted around a defender before making a break for the goal. She sent a low kick to the far goal post and the shot went in, and giving the Tartans their first real momentum of the game with a one-point lead.

The Tartans did not let up in the second half, and in the 47th minute they earned a free kick. From about 50 yards away from the goal, junior defender Katie Strycharz sent the ball toward the goal where a defender knocked the ball away with a header. Moy responded quickly and gathered the free ball, then sent a kick to the far side of the net to earn her first goal of the season and to put the Tartans up 2–0.

The Tartans went right back to scoring, when two minutes later first-year forward Ryan Casey scored her third goal of the season by rebounding a blocked shot taken by Iatarola. The Tartans had a 3–0 lead at this point and looked very comfortable closing the game out
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Iatarola scored the final goal of the game for the Tartans in the 80th minute, when she returned a blocked shot from sophomore forward Katja Bracklemanns-Puig. Iatarola floated a shot right over the goalkeeper’s head and secured the fourth goal of the game for the Tartans.

Tartan goalkeeper sophomore Sarah Mahler preserved the shutout in the 89th minute with a diving save, and left no question as to who was the better team that day.

The Carnegie Mellon women’s soccer team returns to play on Tuesday, Sept. 20 when they travel to Baldwin Wallace University and try to improve their record. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.