Men’s Soccer Prevails Over Lions Courtesy of Lutz’s Late Goal

Stats

Sept. 19 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Sophomore forward Patrick Lutz (Lebanon, Pa./Lancaster) sent the Tartan faithful home happy on Wednesday, September 19 as his late goal gave the Carnegie Mellon University men’s soccer team a 2-1 win over the Penn State Altoona Lions at Gesling Stadium. Carnegie Mellon moves to 4-0 on the season while Penn State Altoona falls to 6-2.

Lutz’s goal came in the 88th minute with the score deadlocked at one after Altoona tied the game nine minutes earlier. Carnegie Mellon freshman midfielder Adam Bogus (Hamilton, N.J./Notre Dame) passed the ball into the box and Lutz, from behind the Lions defender, one-timed a shot that found the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

In an action-packed 79th minute with the Tartans clinging to a 1-0 lead, Penn State Altoona was awarded a penalty kick after a hand ball by Carnegie Mellon in the penalty box. Tartan junior goalkeeper Matthew Bazin (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Delbarton) turned away the penalty kick from Altoona’s Bryan Pierzga to preserve the shutout – at least for the time being. The ball was cleared over the end line by the Tartans and on the ensuing corner from Lions midfielder J.C. Campbell the Lions netted the equalizer as Pierzga’s head sent the ball sailing into the near side of the goal.

In the 12th minute, sophomore midfielder Ryan Browne (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) sent a through ball from the middle of the field to sophomore forward Ricky Griffin (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) streaking down the right side. Griffin laced a low shot past Lions goalkeeper Brandon McQuillen just inside the far post to give the Tartans the early lead.

Carnegie Mellon had a couple other scoring chances in the first half with sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hall’s (Venetia, Pa./Peters Twp.) header to the low far post off a cross from sophomore midfielder Jonathan Simon (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) saved by McQuillen in the second minute of the game. With less than three minutes left in the first half freshman midfielder Maximilian Betzig (Whitmore Lake, Mich./Greenhills) got off a hard spinning shot from the left side of the box in traffic that traveled over the diving McQuillen and off the far post.

Penn State Altoona put some pressure on the Tartan defense early in the second half but weren’t able to capitalize. Sophomore defender David Drochner (Mt. Zion, Ill.) cleared the ball from the middle of the penalty box off a cross attempt in the 53rd minute.

Bazin collected three saves in the win, while McQuillen stopped two shots. The Tartans out-shot Penn State Altoona 11-8 on the evening.

The Carnegie Mellon men’s soccer team will next be in action on Saturday, September 22 on the turf in Gesling Stadium. They will take on Mount Union College and the game is scheduled to commence at noon.