CHICAGO, IL – Led by an impressive effort in goal from graduate goalie
Aidan Hartman, the University of Rochester men's soccer played the 10th-ranked University of Chicago Maroons to a scoreless draw on Sunday morning at Stagg Field.
The result keeps the Yellowjackets in third place in the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings at 2-1-2 in conference play, and 5-6-5 overall, while the 10th-ranked Maroons move to 11-3-1 (2-2-1 UAA) with their first draw of the season.
With just two games left in the conference slate, URochester sits three points shy of Case Western Reserve in first place at 3-0-2 in UAA play, and two points shy of second-place Emory, who sits at 3-1-1 in UAA play.
Despite being outshot 22-6 and 6-0 on goal, Hartman and the Yellowjacket defense kept the Maroons off the scoreboard, making six saves.
Rochester defended an early opportunity from Chicago, blocking shots from Jadyn Hsieh-Bailey and Preston Samtani over the first 10 minutes, while Hsieh-Bailey sent another attempt wide left, and Sean Cook missed high in the ninth minute.
Hartman came up with his first save in the 13th minute, defending a shot from George Marin down the right side. A little over a minute later, Evan Kanellos sailed a shot high before the Maroons earned their third corner of the half, and one of night on the game, but Hartman was able to corral it.
Neither side would put a shot on goal the rest of the opening period, combining for 12 shots in the first 45 minutes.
Pasquale Carusone and
Finn Basobas O'Carroll saw their attempts blocked in the 38th and 41st minutes, while the Maroons sailed several more shots over the bar down the stretch of the first half.
Following the scoreless first half, though, the Maroons put the pressure on the Yellowjacket defense, firing 13 shots at Hartman and co. in the second half, including five on goal.
Hartman made another save on a shot from Giovanni Caselli down the right wing a little over 10 minutes into the second half, and then came up with another on Caselli just past the 60-minute mark. The Maroons found Caselli ahead of the 'Jacket defense with a flick pass, but Hartman got in front of the sophomore's shot and got just enough to deflect it off the crossbar.
Then in the 65th minute, Kanellos tried to challenge Hartman with a shot about 25-yards out, but Hartman was up to the task, stopping the ground ball for his fourth save of the day.
The Yellowjackets' defense blocked a pair of shots from Edward Wu in the 73rd minute, while another shot from Timothy Ratokhin minutes later sailed high, as UChicago continued their offensive pressure throughout the second half.
URochester tallied just three more shots in the second half, none on goal, after taking three in the first, with
Milos Bisenic missing a pair wide, while
Jasper Danielian's 84th-minute attempt was blocked.
After Bisenic missed high on a header in the 79th minute, the Maroons had perhaps their best opportunity of the contest.
Taking advantage of a misplay. Preston Samtani found himself ahead of Rochester's defense and pulled Hartman away from goal, sliding it past the Yellowjackets' keeper, but
Mikey Burke came up clutch, knocking the ball away from goal with a team save to keep UR and UChicago deadlocked at zero.
UR then defended two ensuing corners before earning a corner themselves off Danielian's blocked shot, but the Maroons took things the other way.
In the waning moments, both teams would fire one last salvo, with Hartman coming up with a save on Chase Perry's shot from the left wing in the 88th minute, while Bisenic sailed his attempt wide with 56 seconds to spare.
The final buzzer sounded with the two sides still scoreless, ending the match in a 0-0 draw.
Individually, Bisenic took a team-high two shots, while Hartman made five saves to secure the shutout. For Chicago, Kanellos had a game-high four shots.
The Yellowjackets next wrap up their home schedule with their Senior Day matchup vs. Carnegie Mellon on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1:00 p.m. inside Edwin Fauver Stadium.
