NCAA Tournament Bracket
Pittsburgh, PA – Sophomore
Lucas Terci (Union, NJ, Union) scored in the 30th minute which proved to be the only goal Montclair State would need as the 22nd-ranked Red Hawks knocked off 12th-ranked Carnegie Mellon, 1-0 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship on Sunday.
Junior
Kevin Lynch (Cinnaminson, NJ, Cinnaminson) made five saves for the Red Hawks (16-3-3), who now advance to the NCAA Sectional Tournament for the third consecutive year and sixth time overall. Montclair will take on Rochester next weekend at a site to be determined. Fellow NJAC member Rutgers-Camden meets York (PA) in the other contest. The site and times of the games will be announced on Monday, November 18.
Carnegie Mellon held possession for the majority of the first half and earned three corner kicks in the first 18 minutes. Senior Max Tassano (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Lower Merion) had the first shot on goal for the game when he found himself one-on-one with the keeper. With the defense retreating and pressuring, Tassano laced a shot on goal that was smacked away by Lynch in the 27th minute.
The Red Hawks collected the save and possessed the ball, moving in their own final third of the field. After a shot by
Brian Cullen (Clementon, NJ, Highland Regional), the Red Hawks had a deep throw-in. That throw-in wasn't cleared well by the Tartan defense and Terci ended up with the ball moving away from the goal. He quickly turned and fired a shot low and through traffic that shielded Tartan keeper Christopher Madden's (Reisterstown, Md./Calvert Hall) view and got through to the back of the net for a 1-0 Red Hawk lead at the 29:38 mark of the period.
Montclair State continued to hold the possession through the first half and put another two shots on goal. Both shots were from beyond 20 yards and right at Madden who made the saves.
With the Red Hawks playing down a man since the 33rd minute, the Tartans held all the possession in the second half but couldn't get a good shot off through the defense that packed the box and made it difficult.
Carnegie Mellon put four shots on goal for the half but Lynch was there each time to corral it or knock it away, twice making miraculous saves to keep the Tartans off the board. Lynch's final save came in the final 30 seconds when sophomore Connor Webb (Dallas, Texas/J.J. Pearce) couldn't get enough on a shot as he was directly in front of Lynch, who earned his first shutout of the year, when the ball fell to his foot.
