WASHINGTON, D.C. - Jon Paciorek scored in the 64th minute off a pass from Ben Sykes to lift Catholic to a 1-0 win over Hampden-Sydney Soccer in a hard fought defensive campaign.

Catholic nearly scored less than two minutes into the game, but freshman Thomas Carwell (Woodbridge, VA / Osbourn Park) got the defensive save to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard. Leo Kowalski (Curitiba, Brazil / Deep Run) looked like he was going to give the Tigers the lead at 20:47, but Paciorek made his first big play of the game and saved it off the goal line. A Sean Adams header was stopped by Josiah Fleming (San Antonio, TX / Monticello) a few minutes later. The Tigers had two more shots on goal at 44:30 and 44:39 but were turned back twice.

Each team got stopped twice within the first 13 minutes of the second half before Paciorek scored the game winner.

The Tigers went toe-to-toe with the Cardinals, who were picked to once again win the Landmark Conference and are expected to be in the mix for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Catholic held a slim 12-9 edge in shots while each team made five saves. H-SC registered four corner kicks compared to three for Catholic, and the Tigers committed just 12 fouls on the afternoon.

Hampden-Sydney returns to the field on Saturday for their home opener vs. Marymount at 7 pm.