Spartan Men’s Soccer Posts 4-0 UAA Victory Versus Carnegie Mellon on Seniors’ Day
CLEVELAND, Ohio – A pair of Case Western Reserve University men's soccer seniors tallied goals and two juniors added the other scores as the Spartans earned a 4-0 victory versus University Athletic Association foe Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) during Seniors' Day on rainy and windy Sunday afternoon Case Field.
With the win, the Spartans improve to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in the UAA. They will return to action on Saturday, October 22, in their final non-conference match of the regular season against Westminster College (Pa.) at 1:00 p.m. in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. With its loss, Carnegie Mellon falls to 5-6-1 overall and 1-3 in the UAA.
Six senior student-athletes along with their parents were honored before the match in midfielder Kyle Alsup (Avon, Ohio/Detroit Country Day, Mich.), defender Nathan Beals (Streetsboro, Ohio/Kent Theodore Roosevelt), forward Vinny Bell (Parma Heights, Ohio/Valley Forge), midfielder Mark Ilhan (Westlake, Ohio/Lutheran West), defender Niro Wimalasena (Mason, Ohio/Mason) and goalkeeper Ben Yabrow (Marietta, Ga./George Walton Comprehensive).
The Spartans got on the board in the fourth minute when Ilhan scored his first goal of the year and third of his career on a free kick taken by junior defender Sam Kuehnle (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills). Kuehnle lofted the attempt toward the goal and Ilhan calmly punched the loose ball into the back of the Tartan net.
Case added to its lead in the 10th minute when Bell continued to rewrite the Spartan single-season and career record books, heading in his UAA-best 17th goal of the season. Picking up assists on the play were junior forward Eric Erb (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) and junior midfielder Ross Twanmoh (Fallston, Md./Fallston).
The Spartans then made it 3-0 just before halftime when junior midfielder Marco Patrie (Atlanta, Ga./The Westminster School) headed in an unassisted goal following a scrum in front of the Carnegie Mellon goalmouth for his first career tally.
Not done yet, Kuehnle notched his second helper of the match when he blasted a free kick in the 75th minute from 40 yards away that found the head of classmate Kostis Theoharides (Brookline, Mass.Brookline), who lept in the air and headed home the Spartans' fourth and final goal.
In goal, Yabrow played the opening 10:46 to earn the win before leaving with an injury. Junior Ryan Koepka (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) logged 76:51 and recorded four saves between the pipes for the hosts before freshman Jay Darby (Flower Mound, Texas/Argyle) saw his first collegiate action over the final 2:23 of play. Carnegie Mellon's Jacob Rice made five saves in 75:00 and allowed all four scores before Christopher Madden played the final 15:00.
Case outshot Carnegie Mellon, 20-6, but the Tartans held a slight 6-5 edge in corner kicks.
