NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team wrapped up its truncated spring season with a perfect record after defeating St. Olaf 3-1 in an exhibition on Wednesday. The Gusties went 2-0 in their official contests and 5-0 in exhibition matches.
The Oles scored the game’s first goal on a penalty kick in the 30th minute, but the Gusties answered with two minutes remaining in the half on a goal from Jared Hecht (So., Apple Valley), assisted by Owen Johnson (Fy., Apple Valley).
“St. Olaf is a very good team,” Head Coach Tudor Flintham said. “They kind of dominated us for the first 20 minutes. They were good and our mentality was wrong. While I don’t think it was a penalty, they 100 percent deserved to go up 1-0. No doubt.”
After halftime, Leo Spry (Sr., Bemidji) scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 56th minute and Ethan Glissendorf (So., Sioux Falls, S.D.) added an insurance goal in the 76th minute.
The Gusties outshot the Oles 11-6 as Wesley Sanders (So., Urbandale, Iowa) made four saves in a complete game effort.
“We are young but at some stage our guys will realize that there is a difference between calm and casual,” Flintham said. “That’s the biggest thing we learned this spring. It’s fun to finish perfect and win all our games, and we proved that we can react and go to a different level, but I think it finally clicked and they realize that it’s not just about talent. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
“Overall we’ll take big positives from this spring. We’ll improve, we’ll mature, and we’ll come back in the fall ready to take things to a different level.”
Congratulations Gusties!! I knew that you could do it!! Go,go Gusties!