Three Second Half Goals Lift #17 Tartans Past #22 Brandeis

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - Two goals by senior Marissa McAfee (Cumming, Ga. / South Forsyth) and another by freshman Maria Askounis (Bloomfield Hills, Mich. / Marian) propelled the 17th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's soccer team to a 3-0 victory against 22nd-ranked Brandeis University in the University Athletic Association (UAA) opener for both teams. The Tartans are now 8-2 for the season while the Judges move to 5-2-2.

All three goals were scored in the second half with the first coming off the head of McAfee in the 61st minute after sophomore Sarah Scoles (Naperville, Ill. / Naperville Central) sliced a corner kick into the box. The goal was the second of the season for McAfee.

With time ticking down and just more than five minutes left in the game Askounis added a goal, her second of the year. Sophomore Breana Valentovish (Cranberry Township, Pa. / Seneca Valley) cleared a ball from just outside the Tartans defensive penalty area down the left sideline where Askounis met it on the run and dribbled by the first defender. Askounis continued into the box and faced two Brandeis defenders before their effort to clear it out bounced in the Tartans favor and Askounis was able to strike it with her left foot between the keeper and the left post.

A minute and 18 seconds later, McAfee added her second goal of the game with a right-footed strike from the right edge of the 18-yard box to the left side netting after a diagonal pass forward from junior Helena Spencer (Warrenton, Va. / Patriot).

The Tartans nearly took a lead in the first half when sophomore Cecelia Dieterich (South Paris, Maine / Oxford) put a quick turn around shot on frame in the eighth minute. Two minutes before that, senior Maddy Lui (Basking Ridge, N.J. / Ridge) fired a right-footed shot from the left side to the left post that curved down but was pushed away by the Brandeis keeper.

Carnegie Mellon also had a goal called back in the 41st minute after freshman Alana Frederick (New York, N.Y. / Sacred Heart Greenwich) was whistled for being offside.

Graduate student Carolyn Botz (St. Louis, Mo. / MICDS) earned the shut out victory after Brandeis only got one shot off, one that hit the cross bar in the first half.

The Tartans will next travel to New York, New York, for a UAA contest against the Violets of New York University (6-3, 0-1) on Saturday, October 9 at 11:00 a.m.