Tartans Battle to 2-1 Win at Home Against #20 Lycoming

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's soccer team protected its home field Friday evening against 20th-ranked Lycoming College with a 2-1 victory. The Tartans are now 2-0-1 for the season.

After a scoreless first half where the Tartans took four shots but all off frame, the home team got on the board six minutes into the second period when senior Zack Masciopinto (Arlington Heights, Ill. / Buffalo Grove) scored his first of the season.

The play developed as senior midfielder Jamie Wheaton (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) passed the ball to the outside of the 18-yard box near the endline where senior forward Anthony Gulli (Warrenville, Ill. / St. Joseph) sent a crossing pass to the front of the net. Masciopinto ran onto the pass and headed the ball passed Lycoming keeper Chris Solecki for the one-goal advantage.

Just more than four minutes later Gulli converted his first goal of the season when his curving cross to the far post wasn't secured by Solecki and dropped over the goal line.

Lycoming, trying to climb back in the game, pressed forward with shots in the final 13 minutes. A header shot by Sainclair Tueno in the 79th minute was stopped by senior keeper Alec Lam (Upper Saddle River, N.J. / Northern Highlands Regional) and a shot by Tajhon Willis was cleared free by the defense in the 87th minute.

Just after the team save by the Tartans, a foul in the box resulted in a penalty kick for Lycoming. Alex Henry put the shot away to bring the Warriors to within one goal.

The final attempt of the game for Lycoming came with 23 seconds left when Josh Cruz fired a free kick from just outside the box to the right post where Lam dove and punched it away.

The Tartans return to the field on Sunday, September 9 at La Roche College at 3:00 p.m.

Quoting senior Zack Masciopinto
On how he felt about the win tonight:
"Unbelieveable, I kept saying I want to win the final, such an amazing feeling, we wanted to focus on our effort and pressure and running and we did that tonight and it showed."

On how he felt about scoring:
"Finally. We played the first two games and I've been thinking about all the chances that I've missed and Coach keeps saying they're gonna fall, and finally I got one. A beautiful ball from Gulli, that came off a really great build up and I think it was six or seven passes and I'm so glad I could finish it off."