The University of Rochester men's soccer defeated the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans, 1-0, on Saturday at the CMU Soccer Field. With the win, the 'Jackets move to 9-4-4 (3-2-1 UAA) on the year and remain in the hunt for the conference title with just one game remaining on their slate, while the Tartans drop to 8-4-5 (1-3-2 UAA) with the loss.
After an opening salvo from Dominic Hoar-Weiler was sent high off a second-minute CMU corner, the 'Jackets put together their first scoring opportunity of the match a little over 10 minutes in.
Kamal Ibrahim took Rochester's first shot, an 11th-minute screamer that proved to be off target, wide to the left. Five minutes later, the 'Jackets earned a corner and sent a pair of shots towards goal, with Sebastian Ballesteros' 17th-minute attempt missing high, while Ibrahim's 19th-minute blast was blocked.
Despite combining for nine first-half shots, neither side put a shot on goal in the first half, with late attempts from Will Fallona and Elijose Araujo missing both left and right.
Things got started quickly in the second half, though, with an early attempt from Idan Garten missing right, before Ben Ziegler made his first save of the afternoon a little over two minutes later.
Ziegler spoiled a potential one-on-one opportunity for Leonardo Serodio, as the first-year turned on a cross, but saw his shot saved and then cleared away, resulting in a corner kick.
Rochester then defended a low corner in from the Tartans and would take things the other way, breaking through in the 52nd minute.
Ibrahim, after a through ball to the right corner, chipped a cross into the box, and Milos Bisenic was there, heading it just under the crossbar to bounce in for the score, giving URochester a 1-0 lead.
Bisenic had another opportunity blocked in the 60th minute, while another shot from Serodio missed high just shy of the 60-minute mark.
Trailing 1-0, Carnegie Mellon would put the pressure on the Yellowjackets down the stretch, beginning with another shot on goal in the 65th minute. Ziegler corralled a long shot from Julia Koide just past the 64-minute mark, while Tristan Gonzalez sent his header high in the 72nd minute off a CMU corner.
The 'Jackets defended and cleared another CMU corner in the 80th minute, before the Tartans drew up one last attempt to tie in the game's final moments.
The Tartans earned an 88th-minute corner after the 'Jackets had to clear a pass in towards goal. And while Hoar-Weiler got a head on the corner kick, his shot sailed wide, and Rochester defended the rest of the way to put up a 1-0 shutout victory on the road in Pittsburgh.
Bisenic and Ibrahim each led Rochester with a pair of shots, while Ziegler made two saves in goal.
As a team, Carnegie Mellon outshot Rochester, 10-7, but put just two of those 10 shots on goal, with URochester putting one shot on goal and into the back of the net.
Pending the results of Sunday's contest between Brandeis and Chicago, the 'Jackets remain in the hunt for the UAA title, needing a Brandeis win and a draw between Chicago and WashU next Saturday, as well as a win over Emory at home on Saturday.