On Saturday, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams hosted University Athletic Association rival Case Western Reserve University. The women started the day off well, extending their winning streak to seven games with a dominating 2-0 victory.

The powerful wind and rain couldn’t slow down the NYU women as they controlled the match from the opening kick. The Violets had numerous chances early in the game, but were held scoreless until the 29th minute when a deep shot from senior forward Melissa Menta found the top corner. The goal was Menta’s third of the season, tying her for the team lead. The scoring wasn’t done for the Violets, as freshman forward Megan Carver scored her second goal of the season in the 57th minute to give NYU a 2-0 lead. Stellar defending in the final half hour secured the win for the Violets.

The Violets outshot the Spartans 9-4 and also didn’t allow a single shot on goal. With the win, the Violets ended Case Western’s two game winning streak and moved to 8-1 on the season and a perfect 1-0 within the UAA.

Things did not go as smoothly for the men, as they were unable to slow down nationally ranked Case Western. They suffered a 4-1 setback in their first UAA game of the season, dropping their record to 3-6.

It was a slow start for both teams as there were very few scoring chances and no goals scored in the first half. The pace changed in the 62nd minute after a questionable call gave the Spartans a dangerous free kick opportunity. Case Western capitalized on the opportunity with a great header from Michael Balog to take a 1-0 lead. NYU responded quickly with a free kick goal, beautiful curled in from 25 yards out by junior midfielder
Tristan Medios-Simon.

The score remained deadlocked at one until the 78th minute when Case Western forward Chris Cveko rolled a penalty kick into the bottom left corner giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately for the Violets, Cveko was not done, and scored two more late
goals — in the 86th and 89th minutes — ending all hope of an NYU comeback. By the end, the Violets were outshot 19-11, only recording 4 shots on goal. The loss drops the NYU men to 3-6 on the season and 0-1 in conference play.

Although the Violets’ record is not what they had hoped, captain Petter Aasa remains optimistic that the team can regroup and make some noise in the UAA league table.

“This is technically the real start of our season,” Aasa said. “Although our record right now doesn’t show it, we have a really strong team capable of doing well in the UAA.”

Both teams will be back on the pitch this week with the men hitting the road for games against Farmingdale, on Tuesday, and Carnegie Mellon on Saturday Oct. 10. The women will take on the Brooklyn College Bulldogs on Monday, and then also make the trip to Pittsburgh to face Carnegie Mellon next Saturday.

A version of this article appeared in the Oct. 5 print edition. Email Ben Goodkin at [email protected].