ROCHESTER, NY- The Rochester men's soccer team capitalized on a penalty kick goal early in the second half by Jakob Seidlitz to win a hard fought defensive battle Friday night 1-0 over the Carnegie Mellon Tartans in a UAA conference showdown.

The first Yellowjacket chance came three minutes in when a centering pass went right to freshman Alex Swanger who headed the ball right on net.  Tartan goalie Jacob Rice who was making his first start on the season was there to make the save.

Strong Rochester (8-2-1, 2-0-1 UAA) defense early in the game prevented Carnegie Mellon (5-5-1, 1-2-0 UAA) from getting any decent chances; the UR defense was consistently blocking shots, centering pass attempts and corners.

In the 36th minute, Rochester had another good scoring opportunity when senior Max Eberhardt got loose and fired a hard shot that went high.

The teams exchanged a few corners and shots at the net, but nothing that resembled a decent scoring chance finished off the remaining minutes of the half, ending the first 45 minutes with the score deadlocked a 0-0.

Rochester was able to break the tie in the 53rd minute after a foul in the box was committed by Tartan senior Nick Gianopoulous resulting in a yellow card and a penalty kick.  Gianopoulous had taken down Alex Swanger on a lob into CMU scoring territory.  The PK was then taken by junior Jakob Seidlitz who calmly found the back of the net to give Rochester a 1-0 lead.  The goal was his third on the year, the second one off of penalty kicks.

Sophomore Max Tassano came close to evening the score a few minutes later for Carnegie Mellon, but his header attempt off of a corner kick just missed high.

Soon after that chance, substitute Alex Osuch nearly gave UR a two goal lead when he fired a hard shot at the top of the net that was swatted away by Rice.  In the 70th minute Rochester again had an excellent scoring chance, this time off of a corner kick, but Sean Coyne's header couldn't sneak under the crossbar for a goal; the score remained 1-0 Rochester.

The Yellowjacket defense held the Tartans in check for most of the second half blocking shots and deflecting away numerous chances in front of the UR goal.  CMU had a very close chance with about a minute to go when junior Alex Abedian fired a shot that ended up just wide of the UR net and goalkeeper Scott Garfing.

In net for Rochester Garfing made three saves, Rice had four for the Tartans.

Both teams are next in action on Sunday when Rochester hosts Emory and Carnegie Mellon travels to Case Western Reserve.

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