Tartans Even Record with 2-1 Win At Hiram

(HIRAM, Ohio) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's soccer team picked up its second victory in as many days when it defeated Hiram College 2-1 Saturday night in the championship match of the Hiram Tournament. With the win, the Tartans move to 2-2 on the year as Hiram (3-1) fell for the first time.

The Tartans got on the board first when junior Connor Webb (Dallas, Texas/J.J. Pearce) scored his first goal of the season after a free kick by senior Jakob Rohwer (Southborough, Mass./ Phillips Academy Andover) in the 26th minute. Rohwer's free kick sent toward the goal was deflected by Webb past Matt Sacher for the Tartan lead. The goal came three minutes after sophomore Tristan Lockwood (Victor, N.Y./Victor) had a shot saved by Sacher.

Sacher made two more saves in the first period to keep the Tartans from adding to their lead, while Tartan senior keeper Jacob Rice (Gahanna, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) made two saves in the half.

"We played our best half of soccer tonight in the first 45 minutes and have started to get in a better attacking rhythm," said head coach Brandon Bowman.

The Tartans started quickly in the second half as Lockwood put a ball over the defense that junior Dimitrije Slavkovic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) chased down and took a shot that beat the keeper high for his second goal of the weekend and the Tartans 2-0 lead in the 53rd minute.

Hiram cut the score in half with a goal in the 69th minute when Ryan Kramarz was able to get a low shot past Rice. The Terriers continued to press, trying to tie the score but two shots were saved by Rice, including one in the final 20 seconds as another shot hit the post to end the game.

For the match, Rice made four saves to earn his first victory in net for the year. Senior defender Mark Nicholas (Metuchen, N.J./Hun School of Princeton) was named MVP of the tournament for his defensive effort on the backline for the Tartans.

"We are very please with the progress we have made in the span of a week," Bowman said. "It is rewarding to see such improvements in the areas that we directly trained this week. This weekend should give us confidence to keep working at a high level in practices. We can't wait to get on the field again on Wednesday."

The Tartans will be back in action on Wednesday, September 10 when they travel to Geneva College for a 7:00 p.m. start.