MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College men's soccer team opened the 2026 season with a hard fought come from behind win Tuesday (Sept. 1) evening on the blue turf at Marietta Field. The Pioneers downed Geneva College by the score of 2-1.
""Not the prettiest game we have ever played but I'm so proud of the grit the team showed in coming back to get the win," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "Lots of credit goes to assistant coach Rob Phillips as he literally drew up the play on the game winning corner kick during the hydration break."
All the offense came in the second as neither team found the back of the net in the opening 45 minutes. Geneva held a 6-3 advantage in shots during the first half, but none of the nine shots in the period were on goal. The Pioneers could not capitalize on five first half corners.
Geneva grabbed the lead in the 50th minute. Colin Shea fired a shot that hit the right post and ricocheted right to Msafiri Amisi in the six-yard box. Amisi's follow-up shot gave the Golden Tornadoes the 1-0 lead.
Marietta was the beneficiary of a video review seven minutes later. After a lengthy review, the Pioneers were awarded a penalty kick in the 57th minute.
Zach Kern (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) buried the penalty in the back of the net leveling the match, 1-1.
Marietta earned a corner in the 84th minute.
Gavin Heighberger (Lagrange, Ohio/Elyria) put the corner kick into the back of the net for the game winner with assists from
Ben Beckman (Columbus, Ohio/The Wellington School) and
Rowan Brown (Cincinnati, Ohio/Badin).
Freshman
Travis Lutz (Finleyville, Pa./Ringgold) went the distance in goal for the Pioneers recording one save in his collegiate debut.
Marietta plays at Maryville (Tenn.) College on Saturday (Sept. 5) at 7:30 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.
