St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis men's soccer team posted a clean sheet on Tuesday with a 1-0 shutout victory at Francis Olympic Field against Hope College in non-conference play. 
 
WashU jumps back to .500 on the year at 3-3-0 with the win, while Hope drops to 2-2-5 overall. In addition, the Bears improved to 3-0 at Francis Field so far this season and also earned their third shutout of the year. 
 
WU has outscored its opponents at Francis Oympic Field 7-0 in its first three home matches of 2022. 
 
In the opening half on Tuesday, the Bears were on the attack early with three shots in the first 15 minutes. Shot attempts from Owen Culver and Hudson Hazlewood landed on-target but were saved by Hope's keeper. 
 
The Flying Dutchmen fired off a shot off a free kick attempt in the 30th minute of action, but goalkeeper Matt Martin was there to record the save. 
 
With only seven shots combined in the first 45 minutes of play, both teams went into the half even at 0-0. 
 
In the first 20 minutes of the second half, both teams combined for just one shot each, as Martin logged another save and Nate Vota's shot was saved by Hope. 
 
However, first-year Nathan Szpak scored the game-winning goal with just under 20 minutes remaining in regulation, putting the Bears on top 1-0. 
 
Szpak scored on a breakaway goal thanks to a near perfect pass from Vota, who provided the assist and hit Szpak on a dime nearly 50 yards ahead. 
 
The Newtown, Mass. native then dribbled his way towards the goal, firing a shot from roughly eight-yards out for his first goal of his WashU career. 
 
Hope had two close chances that nearly tied up the contest late, but the Bears would prevail.

The Flying Dutchmen missed a shot that landed wide on the near post with under nine minutes remaining and then fifth-year goalkeeper Matt Martin recorded a clutch diving save with three minutes to play to preserve the shutout win. 
 
Statistically, WashU outshot Hope on Tuesday by a margin of 8-6, while placing five shots-on-goal. 

Junior Owen Culver led WashU with a team-best two shots-on-goal, while Martin tallied three saves in the win. 
 
The Bears will next get set to open UAA play on Saturday at Emory at 11 a.m. EST.