The No. 25 Washington University men’s soccer team opened UAA conference play with a 1-0 victory over No. 10 Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pa. The road win was the Bears’ seventh straight victory and also their seventh consecutive shutout, boosting the team’s record to 8-2 on the season.

“[The win] was huge for us,” co-captain Marshall Plow said. “We beat a good team when we beat Truman [State], but we weren’t sure yet if we could compete with the top teams in the country, and we showed with this win that we could do it.”

“With every game we win, we grow in confidence, but we especially do when getting a conference win,” junior Nat Zenner said. “The UAA is tough, and wins are tough to come by, so getting one on the road against a top 10 team was a really good feeling.”

Wash. U. got off to a fast start when senior Cliff Goldkind netted the game’s first and only goal just 1:57 into the game on a pass from junior John Hengel. The goal was Goldkind’s first of the season and of his career and was just the fifth goal allowed by Carnegie Mellon all season. Hengel, who is the team’s leading scorer with six goals and two assists, has either scored or assisted Wash. U.’s game-winning goal in each of its last five games.

“[The early goal] set the tone for the game,” Plow said. “We were pretty confident that we could keep the shutout with our defensive play. Cliff finished the ball really well. It was a great shot, and it got us on track.”

Junior goalkeeper John Smelcer turned away all seven of Carnegie Mellon’s shots on goal to extend Wash. U.’s shutout streak to seven games, a school record. The Red and Green have not allowed a goal since losing 2-1 to Westminster College on Sept. 6, a total of 666 minutes of scoreless play.

The streak is emblematic of Head Coach Joe Clarke’s season-long commitment to defense.

“Our team gives away a bit physically, particularly in terms of size, so we have to work very hard to reduce the amount of opportunities teams are going to get,” Clarke said. “It probably does sometimes reduce players going forward when they should, but that’s what we have to do in order to be successful.”

“Everybody is buying into it, everybody’s working hard and we make it difficult for the other team to get good chances to score,” Clarke added.

Though Carnegie Mellon outshot Wash. U. 15-3 after Goldkind’s goal, the game was not nearly as lopsided as the numbers suggest.

“I actually think we had the better chances to score overall or at least had as many good chances to score as they did,” Clarke said, explaining that the Tartans only had one good opportunity to score.

The Bears return to action Sunday at Francis Field at 1:30 p.m. against No. 9 Emory University, their second top-10 opponent in as many games.