MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College scored a pair of second half goals to beat Capital University, 2-1, Wednesday (Oct. 21) evening in Ohio Athletic Conference men's soccer action. Marietta improves to 4-6-3 overall and 2-2-1 in the OAC. Capital falls to 6-5-3 on the season and 2-2-2 in the OAC.
"In a game where we needed a complete performance we got as close to one as we have this year. Eli (Swirsky) got us on the board and (Zach) Kern took us home with a heckuva strike. The defense did its job and when needed Travis (Lutz) was there for us," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "Our mentality is that we can celebrate this one tonight but tomorrow we are back to work getting ready for Muskie."
Scoring opportunities were extremely limited in the first half. Each team took four shots with just one of the eight shots on goal in the first 45 minutes. Marietta's back line was anchored by
Landon Stonestreet (Hurricane, W.Va/Hurricane),
Pat Williamson (Hove, Sussex, United KIngdom/Cardinal Newman),
Jaren Reed (Gallipolis, Ohio/Point Pleasant), and
Ben Beckman (Columbus, Ohio/The Wellington School).
It didn't take long for the Pioneers to grab the lead in the second half. Just over five minutes into the half,
Jack Williams (Lower Withington, United Kingdom/Kent School) sent the ball into the box where
Eli Swirsky (Solon, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) was waiting to finish it off for a 1-0 Marietta lead.
Pioneer keeper
Travis Lutz (Finleyville, Pa./Ringgold) had a couple of huge saves in the second half to keep Capital off the scoreboard. He finished the match with three saves.
Zach Kern (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) extended the Marietta lead in the 76th minute. Kern tallied his sixth goal of the season for a 2-0 Pioneers advantage.
The Comets finally got one past the Marietta defense in the final minute. With just 26 seconds left on the clock, Harper Gillen sent a corner kick into the box where Colten Musick slipped it into the net for the goal. But the Pioneers had no trouble running out the clock for the win.
Lutz played all 90 minutes in goal for the Pioneers and had three saves. Noah Thomas posted one save in goal for the Comets.
Marietta hosts rival Muskingum University this Saturday (Oct. 24) at 4:00 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 X and Instagram.
