WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its first match of the Turk Emekli Classic, the Catholic men's soccer team pulled back even during the first half after falling behind 1-0, but conceded two goals in the second half and ultimately fell to #13 Cortland, 3-1.
Cortland started its offensive day off with a clean chance for Matt Shultz, who received a pass inside the 18-yard box and tried to blast it past the keeper in the lower right corner.
Owen Allegro made a fully outstretched diving save to keep the Red Dragons off the board. However, Shultz would get another chance just minutes later by taking a pass from Josh Carroll and slotting it into the back of the net for the game's opening goal.
Momentum swung firmly in the direction of the Cardinals with 30 minutes left to go in the half after a red card was assessed to Cortland's Alex Lessman, which gave Catholic a man advantage for the remainder of the contest. Eight minutes later, Catholic put together some great link up play between
Hayden Lim,
Ben Zimmer and
Holden Woodings which allowed Woodings a clean look with only the keeper to beat and he guided a shot past a diving Jordan Ott to pull the Cardinals back level.
After a stalemate the rest of the first half, the Red Dragons struck once again to regain the lead off the foot of Mateo Marra. Marra fought through contact and blasted a ball from well outside the 18 into the top right corner to put Cortland back on top 2-1. Shultz once again caused issues for the Cardinals later on in the half when he sprinted through the defense and dribbled around the keeper, finishing off an empty-netter to extend the lead to two with his second goal of the night.
The Cardinals had a couple other good chances to get back into the game throughout the half but were unable to find the back of the net once again and Catholic dropped its home opener to Cortland, 3-1.
Woodings' goal was the second of the season for him, becoming the first Cardinals player to reach multiple goals this season. He has also now scored in back-to-back contests. Lim's assist was his second of the season and he made it back-to-back games with an assist for himself.
Shultz has now scored five goals in just four matches so far on the season, scoring in every single game for the Red Dragons. Despite allowing the goal, Ott came away with four saves in the match to help Cortland to victory and advance to 4-0.
The Cardinals wrap up the Turk Emekli Classic on Sunday, September 6 when they take on King's College (PA) with kick off set for 1:30 pm.
