#19 Men’s Soccer Drops 2-1 Decision to #3 Rochester

Oct. 30 - (ROCHESTER, N.Y.) - The #19 Carnegie Mellon's men's soccer had their seven game win streak snapped, as #3 Rochester upended the Tartans 2-1 in Rochester, N.Y. Sunday, October 30. The Tartans drop to 12-2-1 on the year and 4-2 in University Athletic Association play, while the Yellowjackets stay unbeaten at 15-0-0 and 6-0-0.

The Tartans had many chances from the start. On their first trip downfield senior Dan Mastalski (Beaver, Pa./Beaver) swerved the corner kick through the goalmouth before it was cleared by Rochester’s goalie Paco Corbalan. Just 1:28 into the match, senior Jordan Esten (Beaver Dam, Wis./Wayland Academy) launched a shot from straight on more than 30 yards from goal. It got over the head of Corbalan but smacked against the crossbar.

Rochester's first offensive attack produced a goal at 3:08. Jeremy Goico picked off a short clearance, sidestepped a defender on right wing, then drove into the penalty area where he hit a low right-footer into the left hand corner of the net as Tartan freshman keeper Matthew Bazin (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Delbarton) charged off the line to try and cut down the angle.

Carnegie Mellon got even at 10:16. The Tartans earned a throw-in along the left sideline 12 yards off the endline. Freshman Daniel Brackley's (Hamilton, N.J./Steinert) throw sailed through the goalmouth where the Yellowjacket defense missed a clearing header. The ball was headed into the right side of the net by Matt Wilkinson.

What proved to be Rochester's gamewinning goal came just over 13 minutes later on a corner kick. Nick Mikolenko kick was hammered along the edge of the crease from the right corner as Nate Micklos got a step on his marker, cut inside, and headed the ball in the left side of the net at 23:39.

The Tartans had two good chances to tie the score in the second half. Esten's shot 10 minutes after the restart was deflected for a corner kick. With less than nine minutes to play, one shot was blocked and junior Jonathan Browne (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) turned with the rebound eight yards from goal as his shot went wide of the left post.

Rochester outshot the Tartans 14-9 and Bazin recorded three saves.

The Tartans will visit Emory University, Saturday, November 5 for a 1:00 p.m. game to end their regular season.