#5 Tartans Down Case Western 4-0

The #5 Carnegie Mellon University men's soccer team took care of business Sunday afternoon with a 4-0 victory against visiting Case Western Reserve University in University Athletic Association (UAA) play. The Tartans improve their record to 9-2-1 and 2-1-1 while the Spartans drop to 3-10-1 and 0-4-0.

The early minutes of the game were unkind to the Tartans as junior Max Tassano (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion) had a header stopped and junior Chris Wysocki (Newtown, Pa./Germantown Academy) had a header go off the inner post following a free kick by senior Ben Bryant (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills).

The Tartans kept pressuring the Spartan defense which came up big behind Spartan keeper Ryan Koepka with two team saves for the half, including one in the 21st minute when senior Alex Abedian (Columbus, Ind./Columus North) put a header to the lower corner off a corner kick by Bryant that was cleared by a defender.

Bryant and the Tartans broke through in the 38th minute when he put a direct header in the goal from inside the six-yard box off a corner kick by junior Cole Christensen (Castle Rock, Colo./Rock Canyon). The goal was Bryant's fourth of the season.

In the 59th minute, Tassano scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season on a penalty kick after Wysocki was taken out in the box attempting a header.

Prior to the foul, junior Matt Sarett (Huntersville, N.C./Cannon) played a ball to the corner where junior Mike Ferraco (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) collected it and the played a ball back along the left sideline for Bryant. Bryant then served a pass into the box for Wysocki who was fouled.

In the 73rd minute, junior Kevin Pierce (Dallas, Pa./Dallas Senior) had a shot curve just around the post before the Tartans earned a free kick from the right corner in the 75th minute.

Christensen served the free kick low and around the one-man wall where Abedian charged to the near post for the one-time volley past Koepka for the Tartans 3-0 lead.

The Tartans added a goal in the 88th minute when sophomore Daniel Kursman-Neri (Bryn Mawr, pa./Harriton) collected a ball seven yards in front of the goal and placed it past Koepka for his first score of the year. Prior to the shot, sophomore Colin Shaffer (Huntington Beach, Calif./St. Margaret's Episcopal School) played the ball in the box that ended up at Kursman-Neri's foot.

The Tartans will step out of league play for a Wednesday afternoon showdown with Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., at 4:00 p.m.