MARIETTA, Ohio — After five straight games on the road, the Marietta College men's soccer team returned home and defeated Allegheny College Saturday (Sept. 21) afternoon by the score of 2-0. The Pioneers improve to 3-4-1 on the season, while the Gators fall to 1-7-1 overall.
"It was nice to get back on the blue turf and I think it showed. Today was a statistically dominant performance but we struggled to get the break thru," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "Our second half performance was significantly better as we started to have some success in breaking the lines and we were able to ice the game with Gavin's (Heighberger) goal."
Marietta's defense was stifling as the Pioneers held Allegheny without a single shot on frame. The Gators managed five shots in the match, but none threatened to find the back of the net.
The Pioneer back line of
Sam Holthaus (Columbus, Ohio/University),
Lee Miller (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville),
Christopher Rodriguez (Northridge, Calif./Daniel Pearl Magnet), and
Connor Heramb (Willoughby, Ohio/Willoughby South) kept the Gator attack in check.
Andrew Stein (Wilmington, N.C./Hoggard) recorded the clean sheet, his second of the season.
Marietta grabbed the lead in the 28th minute.
Petar Mijic-Barisic (Kirtland, Ohio/Kirtland) fired a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box to the far post.
Reggie Grayek (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary College Prep.) crashed the goal and got a toe on the ball placing it just inside the right post for the goal.
Gavin Heighberger (Lagrange, Ohio/Elyria) made it 2-0 with a goal in the 53rd minute. Mijic-Barisic sent the ball into the box where Heighberger gathered it and riffled a shot inside the far right post for the goal.
Marietta hosts Carnegie Mellon University next Saturday (Sept. 28). Kickoff is set for 4:30 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 X and Instagram.
