SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton men's soccer team (6-1-2, 0-1-1 Landmark) battled the Catholic University Cardinals (4-5-1, 1-0-1 Landmark) to a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon at Weiss Field in Scranton.

Both defenses were strong for much of the first half and the Cardinals' Kwaku Marfo-Sarbeng recorded the first shot of the game in the 24^th minute which was denied by sophomore goalie Charlie Smith (Devon, Pa./Conestoga). Catholic was able to get on the board in the 34^th minute when Ryan Kelly converted a penalty kick opportunity that made it 1-0, but Scranton quickly answered just under six minutes later when sophomore Gavin Scavino (Succasunna, N.J./Gill St. Bernard's) sent a beauty of a shot from the wing into the top corner of the net to even things at one apiece.

The game remained deadlocked at one apiece in the second half when Smith made a save in the 66^th minute. From there, junior Ciaran Corr (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) threatened for the Royals in the 76^th minute, but his shot was cleared off the goal line by a Catholic defender as neither team could break the 1-1 tie. Smith added three more saves over the final 15 plus minutes and Catholic was unable to record a shot on a late free kick in the waning seconds.

Catholic held a 13-5 shot advantage on the day and Corr led the Royals with three, while Smith registered five saves in net for head coach Matt Pivirotto's team.

Scranton will host Lycoming in Landmark Conference action on Tuesday night at Weiss Field with action slated to get underway at 7 p.m.

--ROYALS--