Lions hold off Carlow, 3-2

By: Matylda Zamudio

BEAVER FALLS, Pa.—Almost halfway through the regular season, the Penn State Beaver men's soccer team is kicking on all cylinders after securing a fourth-straight victory against Carlow University, 3-2, during Tuesday night's home game at Wright's Field. 

Beaver's offense attacked early as four players each shot at Carlow's net during the first three minutes of the game. Beaver did a good job of maintaining possession of the ball for the next 10 minutes, but Carlow took the ball away from the Lions and drove straight to their net and scored the first goal (1-0). Beaver didn't stay down for long, as senior John Valiga (Ambridge) Midfield found sophomore Danylo Yakymov (Kiev/Grand Private Lyceum) to connect on the pass and tie up the game at 1-1. Beaver then took its first lead of the game at the 28-minute mark after sophomore RJ Long (Atco/Winslow Township) took the feed from freshman Mishael Garcia (Los Angeles/Alexander Hamilton) to put the Lions up by one before halftime (2-1).

In the second period, Beaver went on the attack, once again, with Yakymov taking a corner kick that missed at the 48th minute, followed by a header by Valiga at the 49th, which was saved by Carlow's goalkeeper. But Beaver's diligent and unwavering offensive barrage was rewarded after freshman Jake Saldivar (Darlington/Blackhawk) launched a powerful kick right into Carlow's net on an assist by Garcia to give the Lions a 3-1 edge at the 60th minute. However, Carlow cut Beaver's lead to one with only 13 minutes to go, but the Lions showed the same grit that won them the last three games and hindered all of Carlow's late attempts to tie things up, pulling out a 3-2 win for the day.

Long led the offense for Beaver, where he went 1-1 with one on goal. Saldivar went 1-3 with one on goal, and Yakymov went 1-8 with three on goal.

At the net, freshman Julian Hauff (Frederick/Governor Thomas Johnson) served as the goalie for the entire game and had two saves against the two SOG he faced. 

Collectively, Beaver outshot Carlow 31-12 and 11-1 on corner kicks.

After defeating Carlow, Beaver improves to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the PSUAC conference standings.

The Lions will play their second of three back-to-back home games this week against Westmoreland County Community College on Thursday, Sept. 26. Game time is at 4 p.m.