FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — The Catholic University men's soccer team dropped its final non-conference match of the season to No. 2 Mary Washington on Wednesday afternoon.
The Cardinals battled the second-ranked team in the nation, hanging with them steadily throughout the contest but were done in by a set-piece late in the first half.
The opening stanza was a cagey one. Both teams fired a handful of shots toward the opposing goal but neither could muster a shot on target until just before halftime. Mary Washington earned its fourth corner of the half with just 90 seconds to play and Elliot Berg got on the end of it to score his first goal of the season.
Catholic began the second half the brighter of the two teams, with Gordie Bernlohr and Owen Maher firing shots toward the Eagle goal early in the stanza. It was Maxim Pencak that forced the first save out of Freddy Rogers in the 65th minute when he was quickest to react after Kwaku Marfo-Sarbeng had his shot blocked.
Michael Cafiero also forced a save out of the Mary Washington goalkeeper in the 80th minute before Catholic applied pressure via two late set pieces.
Domenico Caltabiano was able to use his uncanny ability on dead balls to find Ben Zimmer in the 88th minute, but the sophomore's header flew over the crossbar. Then, with less than a minute remaining, Caltabiano picked out Azaria Tewodros but he too could not keep his headed effort on target.
There was not much between the two teams as Mary Washington edged Catholic in the shot total, 13-10. Owen Allegro made four saves in the Cardinal goal while senior midfielder Michael Hanlon returned after missing a run of matches due to injury.
The Cardinals will now turn their attention to their regular season finale that will see them travel north to Huntingdon, Pa., to face Juniata on Saturday. With a first-round bye in the Landmark Conference Tournament already secured, Travis Beauchamp and company will look to take care of business on Saturday and hope that Lycoming drop points, which could allow Catholic to secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
