Over the past two weekends, the Case Western Reserve University men’s soccer team continued their UAA play with two matches: one against Emory University on Sunday, Oct. 13, and one against the University of Rochester on Saturday, Oct. 19. Both games saw CWRU fall to the opposing team, leaving their record in UAA play at 0-2-1 and their overall record for the season at 5-4-3.

The game against Emory took place in Atlanta and saw the Spartans drop the contest with a 0-2 loss to the Eagles. The two successful shots recorded by Emory occurred during the 27th and 87th minutes. CWRU attempted 7 shots over the course of the match, coming courtesy of five members of the squad. Out of those five, fourth-year forward Kysen Kroeger came on top with 3 attempts, 2 of which were on goal but were ultimately unsuccessful. Notably, third-year goalkeeper Bradley Winter saved 6 shots by Emory during his tenure in front of the net, preventing a larger blowout by the Eagles.

Following their loss to Emory, the squad returned to Cleveland to play against the University of Rochester on DiSanto Field on Oct. 19, determined to bounce back; Unfortunately, this did not quite come to fruition as the Spartans fell 3-2 to the Yellowjackets.

CWRU had a strong start during this match. Second-year midfielder Adam Pluszczyk received a deflected ball at the top of the box before firing it into the top corner of the net during the ninth minute, giving the Spartans the first score of the contest. The goal also marked the third of Pluszczyk’s career and his first in UAA play. Later, during the 37th minute, first-year forward Amir Awais received a long pass, kicked the ball over one of Rochester’s defenders and fired it into the bottom left corner of the net, putting the score at 2-0. With this score, Awais achieved the second goal of his career and his very first in a UAA contest.

Going into the second half, CWRU saw its lead slowly erode as a result of an offensive surge by Rochester, which saw the Yellowjackets make 3 goals within the second half. The first goal occurred during the 55th minute, the second during the 78th minute and the third within the final two minutes of the match, all but sealing a victory for Rochester as the Spartans found themselves unable to answer any of the Yellowjackets’ goals. Within this contest, seven members of the squad had an attempt on goal; Pluszczyk was the only one with multiple shots. Meanwhile, Winter made 5 saves over the course of the match.

This weekend, the squad will be looking to make a comeback as they hit the road for their only two-game UAA weekend of the season. On Friday, Oct. 25, they will be traveling to Chicago to compete against the University of Chicago, before heading to St. Louis on Sunday, Oct. 27, for a match against Washington University in St. Louis.