ALFRED, New York — The Marietta College men's soccer team snapped a three-match winless streak with a dominating 6-2 victory over Baruch College Sunday (Sept. 10) afternoon in the Bryan Karl Tournament hosted by Alfred University. The Pioneers improve to 2-2-1 on the season. Baruch falls to 0-4-0 overall.
"It felt good to get a win today. It's been a tough stretch but hopefully we can use this to kick us on for the week," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "At the end of the day the trip to New York ends on a high note and the players got to experience something different this weekend."
The Pioneers found themselves down a goal early in the match when
Luke Price (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) was whistled for a yellow card in the box just two minutes into the match. Daniel Grishin converted the penalty kick for the 1-0 Baruch lead.
Marietta responded with unassisted goals from
Reggie Grayek (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary College Prep.) and
Taj Haidar (Sylvania, Ohio/Sylvania Southview) in the thirteenth and fifteenth minutes, respectively. Grayek, the Pioneers' leading scorer in 2021, scored his first goal in two years after missing last year due to an injury.
Angel Collazo (Williamstown, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) made it 3-1 in favor of the Pioneers with an assist from
Max King (Granville, Ohio/Granville) in the 41st minute. Any hopes of a Baruch comeback were dashed less than two minutes into the second half when Haidar assisted on a goal by
Gavin Heighberger (Lagrange, Ohio/Elyria).
"Angel's (Collazo) goal to make it 3-1 just before half was a difference maker," Bergin said. "Combine that with Gavin's (Heighberger) goal just after the break and we were able to comfortably play in the second half."
Baruch cut into the Marietta lead with a goal from Taner Ceylan in the 56th minute. Ammar Ahmedshaker was credited with the assist.
Heighberger, with an assist from Grayek, made it 5-2 in the 71st minute.
Brett Dixon (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) closed out the scoring in the 75th minute off a corner kick from
Christopher Rodriguez (Northridge, Ca./Daniel Pearl Magnet).
Luke Price (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) started in goal for the Pioneers and made two saves in 80-plus minutes.
Zach Verbeck (Liberty Hill, Texas/Tom Glenn) made his collegiate debut playing the final nine-plus minutes without recording a save. Adil Lalisic notched three saves in net for Baruch.
Marietta returns home to host Franciscan University on Wednesday (Sept. 13). Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
