Pau Cano netted a pair of goals and added an assist to lift the Pitt-Johnstown men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over California (PA) in Wednesday afternoon's PSAC West-opener at the Pitt-Johnstown Soccer Field. The Mountain Carts improved to 5-1-0 overall and 1-0-0 in conference-play.
Pitt-Johnstown jumped out to a 2-0 lead 29 minutes into the match.
Jaeger James set up Cano's first goal at the 13:06 mark to start the scoring, before
Ryan Kyei Boahen finished an assist from Cano 15 minutes later.
The Vulcans answered right back with a pair of unanswered goals of their own to knot it at two at the half. Cal U cut the deficit to one in the 34
th minute on Jacob Gretz's penalty kick, and Malachi Herndon followed with a goal off of an assist from Bell Cox-Sitkiewicz less than two minutes later.
However, Cano's second goal of the day 12 minutes into the second half put Pitt-Johnstown back on top for good, and the Mountain Cats were able to hold on for the narrow win.
Jacob Tichnell picked up the win in net for Pitt-Johnstown after seeing 13 shots from the Vulcans, allowing two goals, and making four saves.
Cal U's AJ Visco suffered the loss after allowing all three goals. Visco made a pair of saves on 15 Mountain Cat shots.
With the loss, the Vulcans slipped to 2-4-1 overall and 0-1-0 in the PSAC West.
The Mountain Cats will host a PSAC West match against Gannon on Saturday at noon at the Pitt-Johnstown Soccer Field, before visiting Lock Haven for a conference match on Oct. 8.
