MARYVILLE, Tennessee — Marietta College and Maryville College played to a scoreless draw in men's soccer action Saturday (Sept. 5) evening in the first round of the Maryville Fall Classic. The Pioneers move to 1-0-1 on the season, while Maryville is 0-0-1 overall.
"Tonight was a gutsy performance by a team that is slowly changing the narrative of this program. By no means was it perfect but we battled for 90 minutes," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "This was not a game where we were just booting it and defending. We created opportunities and had plenty of corners that gave us chances. There is no time to think about this one as we are back tomorrow afternoon against a determined Piedmont side."
It was a struggle for the offenses as both defenses were outstanding for 90 minutes. Marietta's back line of
Luke Hickey (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin),
Connor Heramb (Willoughby, Ohio/Willoughby South), and
Ben Beckman (Columbus, Ohio/The Wellington School), along with keeper
Travis Lutz (Finleyville, Pa./Ringgold), played the full match and recorded the Pioneer' first clean sheet of the season. Hickey was especially good making tackle after tackle. Lutz posted three saves in goal including a huge save early in the second half.
Maryville's defense was equally impressive. The Scots' back line held Marietta to three total shots and zero shots on goal.
The Pioneers had opportunities off corner kicks but couldn't stick one in the back of the net. Marietta held an 8-4 advantage on corners in the match.
Marietta wraps up play in the Maryville Fall Classic with a 1:00 p.m. match against Piedmont University on Sunday (Sept. 6).
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.
