Tartans Top Franciscan 12-0 in Season Opener

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's soccer team started the 2016 campaign with a 12-0 victory at home against Franciscan University on Friday, September 2. The Tartans, ranked sixth in the nation in the NSCAA preseason poll, registered goals from nine different players.

Junior Grant Wilmer (Atlanta, Ga./Holy Innocents' Episcopal School) started the scoring in the last seconds of the fourth minute. Senior Megan Bartoshuk (Redwood City, Calif./Sequoia) headed a goal kick forward through the defense which Wilmer ran onto and took her shot past the keeper for the one-goal lead.

A minute and 35 seconds later, junior Tori Iatarola (West Dundee, Ill./Loyola Academy) lofted a shot over the keeper from 20 yards out after collecting a ball not cleared by the defense.

In the 14th minute, Bartoshuk used her speed to run past the defense to collect a long ball played from the Tartans' defensive half of the field by junior Morgan Kontor (Annapolis, Md./Severn School). Kontor one-touched the long pass after Wilmer played the ball back to her. Bartoshuk then had only the keeper to beat and she finished the shot low and to the corner.

Sophomore Katja Brackelmanns-Puig (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) recorded her first-career goal in the 28th minute after she finished off a cross in front of the net from junior Haili Adams (Kirkland, Wash./Juanita). Only a minute ticked off the clock before the Tartans struck again and the fifth goal of the game came from junior Sienna Stritter (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo School). Freshman Vayda Farino (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland) and Stritter both got behind the defense and when the keeper charged out, Farino touched a square pass to Stritter who easily finished the pass to an open net.

The Tartans scored twice in the 39th minute when sophomore Kaily Bruch and freshman Ryan Casey (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic) connected. Bruch's first goal of the season came at 38:20 when Casey headed the ball forward and Bruch finished a shot. Thirty-nine seconds later the two were pressed forward again as Bruch sent a pass across the goal. Casey's initial shot was saved by the keeper but she followed it for her first-career tally.

Thirteen seconds into the second half, Wilmer tallied her second goal of the game when she finished a shot from the left corner of the 18-yard box off a pass from Iatarola.

Iatarola put the Tartans' ninth goal on the board when she hit another shot from distance following a pass back from Brackelmanns-Puig in the 65th minute.

The final three goals of the game came in the 77th, 79th and 80th minutes. Freshman Emery Noll (Matthews, N.C./David W Butler) recorded a goal when she finished a pass back across the box from Casey. Casey then tallied her second goal of the game after sophomore Emily Tolmer (Bridgeville, Pa./Chartiers Valley) sent a pass up field from the defensive half. Adams backhealed the ball forward and Casey ran past the defense and finished the shot to the low corner. Adams recorded the final goal when Casey dribbled past the defense on the left side and crossed the ball low through the box which Adams calmly placed in the open net.

Freshman Mia Keyser (Anchorage, Alaska/West Anchorage) earned the win in goal for the Tartans, recording one save.

The Tartans will host ninth-ranked Thomas More College on Saturday, September 3 at 4:00 pm for their second game of the season.