Lionel SobehartThe Washington University men’s soccer team suffered another disappointing loss on Sunday, losing a 1-0 contest to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. With the loss, the team’s overall record fell to 6-3-1 overall and 0-2-0 in the University Athletic Association.
In the 54th minute, Tartan senior Jonathan Browne beat out Wash.U. freshman keeper John Smelcer to score the game’s only goal. Browne was assisted by teammates Ryan Browne and Daniel Brackley.
The Red and Green were disappointed by the outcome of their latest game. Junior co-captain Elie Zenner felt that the Bears “dominated possession but could not create enough chances [to score].”
Fellow junior co-captain Onyi Okoroafor echoed this sentiment, “Despite being the better team, we were unable to create dangerous attacks and in turn we had minimal scoring chances.”
While the Bears took more of an attacking approach, the Tartans looked to capitalize on set pieces and throw-ins throughout most of the game. They also regularly took advantage of long kicks.
The Bears hope to improve their mental mindset from here on out. According to Zenner, “We need to have the confidence in ourselves to play our game instead of playing not to lose. We are usually the more talented team and we just need to believe in ourselves. Once we do that we will have success.”
With this loss, there is immense pressure on the Red and Green to win out the rest of the season to have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament. Okoroafor stated point blank, “We know we need to win the rest of our conference games [to make the post-season]. However, we still have to remember to take it one game at a time.”
The Bears next face conference rival Case Western Reserve University on Friday in Cleveland before traveling to upstate New York on Sunday to do battle with fellow conference member, the University of Rochester. The outcome of these games will play a large part in determining the shape of the rest of the squad’s season.
When asked what the team would be focusing on for their games this weekend, both Zenner and Okoroafor responded with identical answers: “Winning.”