Men’s Football
The #15 Tartans traveled to Washington, Pa. to play the Washington & Jefferson Presidents on Sept. 28.
In contrast to last week’s blowout, the first half was a struggle for Carnegie Mellon. Junior kicker Justin Caputo’s 31-yard field goal put the Tartans up 3-0 to cap a long first drive, but two Tartan fumbles set up short fields for a Presidents touchdown and a field goal.
The second quarter started where the first left off, with a long Presidents drive and touchdown to push the lead to 17-3. A high snap on a Washington and Jefferson punt gave Carnegie Mellon two points on a safety to stop the bleeding, but the Presidents responded before the close of the half with another touchdown drive. The halftime score stood at 24-5.
The Tartans made a strong comeback to eventually with the game against the Washington and Jefferson Presidents. Courtesy of CMU Athletics.
Carnegie Mellon did not waste time making up ground after the break. Quarterback Ben Mills found sophomore receiver Reece Kolke on an 84-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 24-12 on their second play of the half. A holding call on the Presidents gave the Tartans their second safety later in the third, and two plays later Mills found Kolke for a second touchdown. The score was 24-21 going into the fourth quarter.
With 9:37 left in the game, Caputo’s second field goal completed the Tartans’ comeback with 19 unanswered points. A short W&J field goal would potentially have decided the game in regulation, but graduate student linebacker Logan Young’s block allowed the score to remain at 24-24 as the clock hit zeroes.
W&J came back with a 29-yard field goal to open overtime scoring. However, Mills and Kolke’s third connection for points gave Carnegie Mellon a 30-27 victory in their toughest contest of the year.
With the win, the Tartans moved to 4-0. Their next game is at home against Waynesburg University on Oct. 5.
Women’s Soccer
The #5 Tartans played two matches the week of Sept. 22 – 28 and won both decisively.
Their first was at home against Baldwin Wallace University on Sept. 22. Baldwin Wallace scored in the first minute, which was answered late in the half by a 30-yard strike from junior Maggie Doherty. Graduate student Cecelia Dieterich gave the Tartans a lead in the 59th minute off an assist from freshman Alma Zhong, and freshman Nicole Lazarakis iced the game in the 81st minute off a corner kick from sophomore Natalie Rayce.
The Tartans went on the road for their second game of the week at Kenyon College. Led by sophomore Saveria Ulizzi’s hat trick, Carnegie Mellon won 5-0.
Ulizzi’s first goal was unassisted in the third minute of the game. Sophomore Audrey Bianco added a second goal before the tenth minute of the game off of a Sophia Bastek assist. Bianco then assisted Ulizzi’s second goal in the 22nd minute.
Ulizzi assisted Dieterich two minutes later, pushing the lead to 4-0 before half. Ulizzi’s final goal came early in the second period and set the score at 5-0 for good.
Ulizzi’s hat trick was the first in her career, and the first by a Tartan since 2021. With the two wins, Carnegie Mellon remains undefeated at 6-0-3. Their next match is at Salisbury University on Sept. 29.
Men’s Soccer
The Tartans began the week with a 2-0 home win against the Juniata College Eagles.
The first half ended scoreless, but with five Carnegie Mellon shots on goal. Midway through the second half, sophomore Nicholas Kourakis converted a Dallas Schoenberger corner kick to put Carnegie Mellon up 1-0. Senior Jake Slackman followed in the 87th minute with a chip shot over the Juniata goalkeeper.
Carnegie Mellon’s second game was away on Sept. 28 at Marietta College.
Schoenberger began scoring in the 13th minute off an assist from sophomore Dominic Hoar-Weiler. Marietta gave Carnegie Mellon a point with an own goal, and graduate student Diederik Schlingemann scored on a header in the 37th minute. Senior Billy Boucuvalas scored late in the half to set the halftime lead at 4-0.
The Tartans scored three more unassisted goals in the second half from senior Chris Lee, senior Kyle Raker, and sophomore Juan Otero.
The Tartans finished the week at 6-2-2. They host Brandeis University on Oct.5 for their first game of UAA play.
Women’s Tennis
On Sept. 23, Carnegie Mellon completed play in the ITA Regionals with freshman Ancele Dolensek taking home the singles championship. Junior Anna Chow and freshman Shelly Zinchenko also placed second in the doubles championship.
Chow and Zinchenko took the semifinals against Washington and Lee 8-3. Their finals loss against Johns Hopkins came by sets of 6-4, 6-2.
Zinchenko shortly afterward faced Dolensek in the singles semifinals. Dolensek took the first set 7-5, and a 6-0 Zinchenko win in the second forced a tight 7-6(4) set from Dolensek to make the finals.
Dolensek then defeated Sophia Kim of Johns Hopkins 6-2, 7-6(8) to win the singles championship.
Dolensek extended a streak of six straight singles championships for the Tartans, and the fourth by a freshman.
Women’s Golf
On Sept. 23, Carnegie Mellon placed second at the Montgomery Country Club Women’s Intercollegiate with a 36-hole score of 583.
Graduate student Alexis Sudjianto tied for third in a field of 63, with a two under 142 overall. Sophomore Nikita Jadhav placed sixth with a 145, and freshman Cecelia Jia fired a 147.
The B team competed in Meadville, Pa. at the Allegheny Guy and Jeanne Kuhn Invitational. The Tartans won the event with a team 613. Freshman Emma Wong medaled in individual play with a five over par 147.
Men’s Golf
On Sept. 23, the men’s golf team placed fifth out of 18 teams participating in Rochester, N.Y.’s Flower City Invitational.
Senior Justin Chan fired 10-under par 206 on the full 54 holes, the third-lowest individual total in the program’s history. Chan placed third individually out of 90. Freshman Leonardo Vieira went two-under par 214 for the preview, the same as junior David Zhang.
Sophomore Steven Shea carded a 220, and sophomore Ryan Dannegger ended with 230.
The B team competed in Meadville, Pa. during Sept. 22 and Sept. 23 in the Allegheny Guy & Jeanne Kuhn invitational. Freshman Will Blankenship was the strongest performer on the Tartans squad, shooting four over par 146.
Men’s Tennis
The Tartans hosted a home invitational Sept. 20-22, competing against Bucknell University, Duquesne University, and Edinboro University.
Carnegie Mellon won 15 out of 28 singles matches it competed in. Freshmen Alex Feies and Fernando Limon won all three of their matches, and sophomores Daniel Kong and Raghav Jangbahadur won two each.
Carnegie Mellon also won eight out of its 14 doubles matches. Junior Akshay Joshi and Feies won their three matches against all of Duquesne, Bucknell, and Edinboro.
On Sept. 27 and 28, the Tartans participated in the ITA Southeast Regionals at the University of Mary Washington.
In doubles, Kong and Jangbahadur won 8-7(5) and 8-3 before an 8-5 loss to Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals. Feies and Joshi made the quarterfinals with two 8-4 wins, then lost 8-7(1) to Salisbury University.
In singles, four Tartans advanced to play on Sept. 29. Jangbahadur won 8-2 in the round of 64, 8-5 in the round of 32, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 in the round of 16, and 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Feies won 8-0 in the round of 64, 8-3 in the round of 32, 7-5, 6-1 in the round of 16, and a 6-1, 6-2 win in the quarterfinals.
Limon and freshman Brendan Hendrata also advanced to the semifinals in B1 play.
The ITA invitational continues for Limon, Hendrata, Jangbahadur, and Feies on Sept. 29.
Women’s Volleyball
The Tartans’ first match of the week came in the Highmark Center against #1 Juniata College on Sept. 26. The 3-0 loss moved Carnegie Mellon to 7-6, while Juniata remained undefeated.
Graduate student Laura Reichard led the Tartans with 10 of the team’s 31 kills. Sophomore Neha Tummala gave 24 assists and contributed 15 digs. Senior Abby Chen led the team in digs with 18.
Carnegie Mellon then traveled to New York, N.Y.. to play #13 NYU, the first contest in the UAA round robin, and upset them 3-2. Their second match was a 3-1 victory against the University of Chicago. The Tartans finished the weekend with a 3-0 defeat of Brandeis, with set scores of 25-17, 25-21, and 25-19.
Their next opponent is Allegheny College on Oct. 4.