Scratch “overtime win” off the Washington University men’s soccer team’s to-do list. The Bears’ undefeated streak, their best start since 1979, is still alive after the No. 12 squad upset No. 11 Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday.

Two games into University Athletic Association play, the Red and Green (9-0-3) have faced two of the toughest teams in a conference in which four of eight teams are ranked among the nation’s top 25 (last weekend, the Bears delivered No. 9 Emory University its first tie). With the points from Sunday’s victory over CMU, the team is in a three-way tie with the Emory and New York University for the top spot in the UAA.

“Looking at our schedule before the UAA [part of the season] started, I knew our first two games would be critical,” senior midfielder Cody Costakis said.

The Tartans went undefeated in their first eight games and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America weekly poll. According to sophomore forward Zachary Query, the Bears had prepared for a distinctive Carnegie Mellon offense.

“We worked a lot in the week prior at being able to manage their attack. They’re really unique in the sense that they use their midfielders a lot in their attack, so they tend to overwhelm our defense with more players than they’re used to,” Query said. “We took a slightly more defensive formation, and that really paid off. We really were able to shut them down and frustrate them.”

The Tartans bested the Bears in shots 7-3 in the first half, but Wash. U. responded with a 5-3 advantage in the second. After 90 scoreless minutes, the team entered its fourth overtime game of the season.

“Last season, we had a lot of ties. Something that we’re really used to is just really hunkering down and getting through games because our defense is incredible,” Query said. “We were really upset and annoyed last week with Emory, how we didn’t score in overtime and they had most of the possession. We went out and really attacked Carnegie Mellon and had three attacks in a row before they had a single one.”

Those attacks would set up Costakis’ golden goal to earn the Wash. U. victory. Junior Dylan Roman set up the play, serving the ball to fellow junior Patrick McLean, who found Costakis less than four minutes into the first overtime period.

“I don’t think we made any adjustments [going into overtime], but [Roman] started the overtime period, and before we scored, he had three 80-yard runs down the sideline,” Costakis said. “A lot of credit goes to him for how we played in overtime.”

With the victory, the Bears have already matched last season’s win total. According to Costakis, the team’s mentality has driven the squad toward better results.

“It’s a mentality thing. Last year, we had a comparable amount of skill,” Costakis said. “During the off-season, there were a number of us working on our mental attitudes…the fact that we’ve won games in overtime, in the last few minutes, or even come from behind says something.”

The Bears now head into a demanding weekend road trip in which they will face Case Western Reserve University on Friday and head to No. 15 University of Rochester on Sunday. Query noted that while the last two games saw the Bears adjust their style of play to their opponents, this week’s strategy may depart from that trend.

“We really prepared to try to manipulate our game to handle them, and the same thing [occurred] with Carnegie Mellon. We tried to pick out the things that they were doing so that we were ready for it,” Query said. “I think this week we’re really going to focus on developing our own style of play, really imposing the way we play on to the opponents.”

The Red and Green play at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Friday in Cleveland and 1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday in Rochester for their final two road games of the season. The team then returns home for a five-game home stand that begins Oct. 21 against Principia College.