No. 7 Men’s Soccer Dominant in 3-0 Win Over Washington and Jefferson

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's soccer team scored less than 10 minutes into the game and never looked back, as the seventh-ranked Tartans topped Washington and Jefferson College on Wednesday, 3-0. The Tartans improve to 6-1 overall as the Presidents drop to 0-4-1.

After placing two shots on goal in the early going, the Tartans got on the board when junior Scott Gerfen (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) connected off a feed from senior Ben Bryant (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) in the 10th minute. Gerfen collected the ball on the right side of the field and beat goalie Jon Best to the left corner to give Carnegie Mellon an early 1-0 advantage.

With 13 seconds left in the opening half, the Tartans added to their lead as senior Alex Abedian (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) scored his third goal of the season. After Bryant directed a cross toward junior Max Tassano (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion), the junior headed the ball toward the Presidents' goal. A Washington and Jefferson defender cleared the ball toward Abedian, who controlled it and knocked home the goal. The score finished a dominant offensive half for the Tartans, who put seven shots on net in the first 45 minutes.

It wouldn't take long for the Tartans to strike again, as they scored just 15 minutes into the second half.  Bryant picked up his third assist of the game, as the senior directed a corner kick toward classmate John Crawshaw (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carnegie), who headed it into the middle of the goal past Best.

The Tartans received an outstanding defensive effort from Abedian and sophomore Jakob Rohwer (Southborough, Mass./Phillips Academy Andover), who locked down the back in front of junior goalie Christopher Madden (Reisterstown, Md./Calvert Hall) and sophomore keeper Jacob Rice (Gahanna, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln).  Madden who had two stops was recently named University Athletic Association and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Athlete of the Week. Rice ended the contest with one save.

Carnegie Mellon returns to action on Saturday, September 22 at Bethany for a 1:00 p.m. start.