WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic University men's soccer team saw out a gritty 1-0 victory on its home turf to open conference play on Saturday.
A second-half penalty from Kwaku Marfo-Sarbeng lifted the Cardinals past Moravian despite the Greyhounds looking dangerous for significant portions of the match.
Freshman Owen Allegro had his best match to date in a Catholic uniform, making three massive saves to maintain a clean sheet.
Moravian flew out of the blocks, applying serious pressure throughout the first 20 minutes of the match. The Greyhounds earned a corner in the 17th minute and Donald Gibbs met the service to loop a header to the back post. Allegro took a drop step and dove brilliantly to claw it out from the top corner, preventing a sure goal.
The goalkeeper was heroic again just about a minute later when a corner caused problems for the Cardinals again. This time Allegro got down low to his left, repelling another Gibb's from very close range.
Allegro stood tall for a third time late in the first half when Aidan Costa fired in a low strike from just outside the penalty area. The shot skimmed off the wet turf but a brilliant one-handed save from the freshman pushed it around the far post to keep the match scoreless.
Moravian were certainly the better team in the opening stanza but it was Catholic who came out the hungrier of the two sides after the break. Catholic powered five shots toward the Moravian goal in the opening 15 minutes of the stanza but the match remained finely poised at nil-nil until the 67th minute.
Catholic pressed forward and pushed into the penalty area when Moravian defender Kyle Weiss tried to step in front of an on-rushing Cardinal but was whistled for handling inside of the penalty area. Marfo-Sarbeng stepped up and confidently rifled the spot kick into the net, sending Andrew Remias the wrong way.
The Cardinals continued to push for more, forcing four more saves out of the Moravian goalkeeper but would have to settle for 1-0.
Corey Magro had an immediate impact off the bench, playing a key role in the build-up to the game's only goal. The freshman beat a defender with a clever nutmeg through the midfield, allowing Catholic to counter-attack at pace, which led to the earning of the penalty.
Catholic played much of the match with three center backs as Maximilian Penczar, Owen Maher and Maxim Pencak were solid in the center of the park. Outside backs Liam Giblin and Andrew Lowman also played well in contribution to Catholic's third clean sheet of the campaign.
The Cardinals now move to 4-4 on the season and will make a short trip across the bridge to Arlington, Va., for a midweek affair with Marymount. Kickoff in the Pope's Cup matchup is set for 8 p.m.
