PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Marietta College's men's soccer team lost to Carnegie Mellon University by the score of 3-0 Saturday (Sept. 23) afternoon. Marietta falls to 2-6-1 overall, while the Tartans improve to 5-0-1 on the season.
"This was a game that we needed to take strides towards getting ready for conference and I felt that we did that," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "That was a good team and we were battling with them. Soft second and third goals did us in but overall we can build on this. I don't think most critics felt we'd even be in this game and we were."
Both teams battled throughout the first half with limited offense occurring. Carnegie Mellon attempted four shots, two on goal, before finding the goal in the 42nd minute. CMU's Jake Slackman scored to break the scoreless tie. The Pioneers attempted two shots during the half, but only gave Tartans goalkeeper Kai Yamamoto one chance, which he successfully saved. Marietta trailed 1-0 going into halftime.
Six minutes into the second half Carnegie Mellon doubled its lead. Diederik Schlingemann found the back of the net with an assist from Alejandro Fernandez to give the Tartans a 2-0 lead. Four minutes later, Zack Schonenwetter scored with an assist from Josh Baugh to extend the lead to three goals. The Pioneers were not able to get back into the match and lost, 3-0.
For the match, Carnegie Mellon outshot the Pioneers 11-6, including an 8-4 difference in shots on goal. The Tartans took 11 corner kicks, while Marietta earned five corners.
Yamamoto earned the shutout victory for the Tartans, playing all 90 minutes and making four saves.
Luke Price (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) got the start in net for the Pioneers. He played all 90 minutes and recorded five saves, but allowed all three goals.
"The last three games have been against nationally and regionally ranked opponents. We do this on purpose. Of course our record is not pretty, but I feel it makes us closer to being ready for conference," Bergin said. "Ultimately at this point we will all be 0-0 and it is a new season. Let's hope that we take the lessons learned and put them to good use. Certainly from an outside perspective the jury is still out on that."
Marietta returns home to play Baldwin Wallace in their conference opener on Saturday (Sept. 30) at 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.
