The NYU men’s and women’s soccer teams embarked on their first UAA road weekend, matching up against the Emory University Eagles on Friday, Oct. 18 in Atlanta and the Carnegie Mellon Tartans on Sunday Oct. 20 in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for both the men’s and women’s teams, they struggled to claim a victory in both UAA matches against Emory and Carnegie Mellon.
In Atlanta on Friday, the men’s team fell to Emory in a 2-0 loss.
“We just didn’t match our opponent’s energy,” CAS senior captain Danny Weisbaum said. “We had moments where we did combine and do well going forward but couldn’t take advantages of our chances.”
Emory’s junior co-captain and leading scorer Dylan Price put the Eagles on the board, outrunning the NYU defense to knock one in before the end of the first half. In the 47th minute, Emory’s junior midfielder Michael Rheaume sealed the lead with a goal after a ricocheted shot off the post.
In women’s soccer, NYU fell early with a first-minute goal from Emory midfielder Kelly Costopoulos. SCPS sophomore forward Melissa Menta answered for NYU in the 12th minute, tying the game after a breakaway to goal. But the Violets would let up another goal before the half, this time scored by Emory’s senior defender Lauren Drosick in the 30th minute.
Travelling to Pittsburgh for Sunday’s match, both teams hoped to bounce back and grab a win before returning to New York.
The men’s team started off strong, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game. CAS Senior midfielder Colm Dillane put one into the corner of the goal past Carnegie Mellon’s keeper to clench an early lead. Only a minute later, CAS junior midfielder Mickey Ingerman scored another goal from Dillane’s free-kick service.
“We scored two early goals and played some of our best soccer of the season in the first half,” Weisbaum said.
In the second half, however, NYU lost their momentum and let up a goal in the 65th minute to the Tartans’ senior midfielder Mike Ferraco. Five minutes later, CMU’s graduate student Moni Sallam headed in the equalizer, knotting the game at 2-2.
“We began to play a more direct game in the second half which played to Carnegie’s advantage,” Weisbaum said.
With just 12 minutes left in the game, Carnegie Mellon’s Jerome Reano scored the game-winning goal against CAS freshman keeper Lucas Doucette.
“We were disappointed not to get a result, but will look to build off of our first-half performance heading into our final three matches,” assistant coach Ryan Finnigan said.
For the women, Carnegie Mellon led in the first half with two goals. Despite being down 2-0, NYU battled back throughout the second half as Menta put the Violets on the board in the 72nd minute with a distance shot past the keeper. NYU continued firing shots on goal until the last whistle, but it wasn’t enough to equalize.
“We put up a great fight but it felt like luck was not on our side,” said Steinhardt freshman goalkeeper Cassie Steinberg. “We weren’t able to get the points on the road but we plan on getting the win at home in our next UAA games.”
The men and women return to the pitch on Nov. 1 against the University of Chicago Maroons at home in Gaelic Park at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Oct. 20 print edition. Michelle Tran is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected].
