The Gustavus men’s soccer team will play Loras College on Friday at 10:00 am (CST) at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Minn. The winner will play the winner of the Calvin/Fredonia State (NY) match on Saturday at 12:00 pm (CST) for the right to advanced to the NCAA Final Four in Greensboro, North Carolina on Friday and Saturday, November 25-26.
This weekend’s matches will be broadcast through the Gustavus Athletics website. Friday’s broadcast will begin at 9:45 am. Gustavus sports information director Tim Kennedy will call the play-by-play for the match. If the Gusties win on Friday, Saturday’s match will also be broadcast beginning at 11:45 am. Click here to link to the broadcast page.
The Gusties , who finished the regular season as co-champions of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a mark of 7-1-2, will be making their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and sixth in the program’s history. The Gusties advanced to the Elite Eight last year before losing to UC-Santa Cruz 1-0 in San Antonio, Texas.
The Gusties are led by a talented group of eight seniors including midfielder Tore Johnston, midfielder Chris Pinahs, midfielder Bobby Kroog, forward Jeff Aasness, forward Caleb Bousu, defender Jordan Iblings, midfielder Jon Astry, and defender Grant Morlock. This group has compiled a mark of 60-9-14 during the past four seasons. 2004 All-American Bobby Kroog is the team’s leading scorer with 12 goals and 2 assists for 26 points. Kroog was recently named the 2005 Player of the Year by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference soccer coaches. Forward Caleb Bousu is the team’s second leading scorer with nine goals and 6 assists for 24 points. Jon Astry and Jordan Iblings joined Kroog on the all-conference team. Junior Tyler Garry is the team’s primary goalkeeper. Garry has posted a mark of 11-1-3 with 8 shutouts and a goals against average of 0.40.
Gustavus has played a very demanding schedule this season including five teams that were selected to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Gusties posted a mark of 1-2-3 against those opponents including a win against UC-Santa Cruz (3-1), losses to Macalester (1-0), and Wartburg (1-2, OT), and ties with Saint John’s (2-2, 0-0), and UW-Whitewater (1-1). This will be the seventh meeting all-time between Gustavus and Loras, however this is the first time that the two have met in the NCAA Tournament. The Gusties hold a 5-1-0 mark all-time against Loras. Gustavus has not ever played Calvin or Fredonia State.