The Gustavus men’s soccer team improved its conference mark to 3-0-0 with a 3-0 win over Saint Mary’s on Tuesday afternoon. Skylar Schulz, Flynn Stewart-Franzen, and Fraser Horton scored for the Gusties, while goalkeeper Luke Strom made three saves and registered his third shutout of the season.
The match was delayed 35 minutes due to heavy rain and lightning at 4:00 pm in the St. Peter area. After the rain cleared the match was started at around 4:45 pm. The field was wet and slick, however the players performed well in spite of the challenging conditions.
The Gusties opened the scoring in the 33rd minute when Skylar Schulz converted a penalty kick. The penalty kick was awarded when Brett VanderStreek was pulled down just in front of the Saint Mary’s goal. The goal was Schulz’s second of the season, both of which have been penalty kicks. Gustavus led the Cardinals 1-0 at halftime.
Both of the Gusties second half goals would come from set plays with the first coming in the 74th minute when Ben Ceder drove a free kick towards Flynn Stewart-Franzen who headed the ball past Cardinal goalkeeper Jon Szafranski to make the score 2-0. In the 83rd minute, Fraser Horton drove a free kick past the Saint Mary’s wall and past a shielded Szafranski into the lower right corner of the net. It was Horton’s first goal of the season and made the score 3-0.
Gustavus held a 17-8 advantage in shots in the contest and a slim 8-7 advantage in corner kicks. Szafranski made three saves and allowed all three goals for the Cardinals, while Luke Strom made three saves for Gustavus.
The Gusties have now won five consecutive matches and have not allowed a goal for a span of 309 minutes over three-and-half matches. During the winning streak, Gustavus has outscored its opponents 21-1.
Gustavus will host Carleton on Saturday in a very important MIAC contest between the two squads that tied for the MIAC title last year and were picked to be among the serious contenders for the title again this season. The Knights claimed a 2-1 win in Northfield last season which snapped a 10-match unbeaten streak by the Gusties against Carleton. The game will be videostreamed live through the Gustavus website beginning at 12:45 pm.