No. 18 Tartans Win Opener 1-0 Over Hiram

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's soccer team opened the 2013 campaign with a 1-0 victory against Hiram College in the Carnegie Mellon Men's Soccer DoubleTree Invitational. Senior Chris Wysocki (Newtown, Pa./Germantown Academy) gave the No. 18 Tartans the 1-0 victory with a goal in the first period.

Wysocki started the shot brigade for the Tartans in the beginning of the sixth minute with a shot that was saved by Hiram keeper Chris Minite and a minute later had a shot blocked by the defense. Another six shots by the Tartans were wide or high of the goal before the Tartans finally put one on the board.

With nine minutes to go in the half, the Tartans broke through after winning a corner kick when Wysocki blasted a shot to the near post from just outside the six-yard box. Senior defender Ben Bryant's corner kick was headed away by the defense but straight to the foot of junior defender Jakob Rohwer (Southborough, Mass./Phillips Academy Andover). Rohwer misfired on a shot that spun by a defender where Wysocki was there to one-time the blast.

Wysocki nearly scored his second goal of the game three minutes later when his right-footed shot screamed by the goalie only to hit the inside of the post at an unlucky angle.

The Tartans continued the pressure in the second half with substitutes Kevin Pierce (Dallas, Pa./Dallas Senior) and Colin Shaffer (Huntington Beach, Calif./St. Margaret's Episcopal School) ripping shots at the Hiram net. Pierce had a shot blocked at the top of the 18-yard box that Shaffer struck on the rebound which was saved by Minite 39 seconds into play.

Two minutes later senior Cole Christensen (Castle Rock, Colo./Rock Canyon) had a left-footed shot sail right by the left post while junior Daniel Kursman-Neri (Bryn Mawr, Pa./Harriton) put a shot by the right post in the 49th minute.

Senior Max Tassano (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion) had two opportunities denied midway through the second half when a header went just over the crossbar and a shot was saved by Minite at point-blank range.

The Terriers were unlucky in the 80th minute when Brian Zilla's shot hit the post and Cory Weddington's attempt on the rebound was wide.

Senior keeper Christopher Madden (Reisterstown, Md./Calvert Hall) finished the game with one save while Minite recorded four in the loss.

The Tartans will continue home action on Saturday, August 31 at 6:30 p.m. in the final game of the DoubleTree Invitational against the University of Mount Union.