#16 Tartans Open Season with 31-0 Victory at Geneva

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team, ranked 16th nationally, opened its 2023 campaign with a 31-0 victory at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on Saturday night.

Game Information
Carnegie Mellon 31, Geneva 0
Records: Carnegie Mellon (1-0, 1-0 PAC), Geneva (0-1, 0-1 PAC)
Location: Beaver Falls, Pa. (Reeves Field)

How it Happened

• After a scoreless first quarter, Geneva had a chance to punch the ball into the endzone on the third play of the second quarter, but on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line the Tartans defense stopped the quarterback keeper up the middle.
• Following a fumble recovery by senior long snapper Kevin O'Brien on a punt that he returned 13 yards to the Geneva 43-yard line, sophomore Justin Caputo connected on a 32-yard field goal to make the score 3-0 with eight minutes to play in the half. The sophomore's first collegiate field goal capped off a nine-play, 28-yard drive.
• The Tartans took the opening kick of the second half and marched 75 yards on eight plays and took a 10-0 lead following a 4-yard touchdown run by junior Tre Vasiliadis.
• Sophomore Joey McGinnis IV finished a six-play, 39-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with three minutes left in the third quarter to extend the Tartans lead to 17-0.
• On the first play of the fourth quarter, senior signal caller Ben Mills connected with junior Dominic Voiland on a 25-yard catch-and-run touchdown to make the score 24-0.
• A blocked punt by Carnegie Mellon's senior Aryan Hegde led to the Tartans fourth touchdown of the game and McGinnis' second, as the sophomore ran it in from a yard away to push the score to 31-0 with 9:07 to play.

Stats

• Carnegie Mellon totaled 309 yards of total offense, with 202 coming in the second half, while Geneva totaled 227.
• After allowing the Golden Tornadoes to rack up 149 yards in the first half, the Tartan defense held Geneva to 78 in the second.
• Mills ended the game completing 19-of-28 for 196 yards and a touchdown.
• Voiland ended with career-highs of five receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown.
• Vasiliadis led the ground attack for Carnegie Mellon with 72 yards on 15 carries and a score.
• Defensively, senior Robert Coury finished with 10 tackles while junior Evan Roper totaled nine, including seven solo.
• Josh Syster led Geneva's offense with 93 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Game Notes

• Carnegie Mellon improves to 69-43-3 all-time in season openers and 2-0 under Head Coach Ryan Larsen.
• The win marks the 14 straight for the Tartans in the series against Geneva.
• The Tartans have now won 16 straight PAC games.
• The Cardinal and Gray extend their regular season win streak to 18 games.
• The Tartans have won 29 straight games when leading after three quarters of play.
• The Tartans have won 15 straight games when winning the takeaway battle.
• The shutout marks the Tartans second straight over the Golden Tornadoes and ninth in the all-time series.
• Robert Coury moved into eighth in program history with 216 tackles for his career. He needs 17 more to move into seventh.
• It was Robert Coury's ninth career game recording double digit tackles.

Thoughts From Head Coach Ryan Larsen

• "I'm really proud of how our guys fought for all 60 minutes tonight. The first half didn't go exactly the way we wanted it to, but I credit our players for trusting the plan and executing in the second half. A huge shoutout to our defense, the past two games against Geneva they have shut them out which is extremely difficult versus their triple option attack. We look forward to improving in week two!"

Up Next

• Carnegie Mellon will open its home slate on Saturday, September 9 with a 1:00 p.m. kick against Saint Vincent College.