The Gustavus men’s soccer team picked up a point with a 1-1 tie against St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul. Justin Eglseder scored the game-tying goal at the 75:59 mark on a penalty kick to send the match into extra time. Neither team could find the game-winner in the two overtime sessions, as St. Thomas outshot Gustavus 9-to-7 when the final whistle blew.
The Gusties move into sole possession of first place (20 pts.) in the conference standings with the point. They are now 14-1-2 overall and 6-1-2 in the MIAC. St. Thomas moves to 7-5-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the MIAC.
“Exciting game for the fans today against a big, strong and very committed St. Thomas team,” said Head Coach Mike Middleton. “St. Thomas was very much a counter-attacking team, and we had to be constantly on our guard. Zach Brown was brought down in the box after an excellent run and Justin Eglseder calmly slotted away the penalty. We were absolutely stellar in our performance to get back into the game.”
The Tommies were the first on the scoreboard at the 36:05 mark when Mike Hutton buried his seventh goal of the season off a feed from Alex Bernhardt.
Both Gustavus and St. Thomas had seven corner kick opportunities in the match. The two squads also recorded three shots each in the two overtime frames.
Gustavus’ Brett Ylonen made three saves in 110:00 in nets, while St. Thomas keeper Jace Leiferman made five saves in a complete game.
“Today’s result may have cost us our best chance of the regular season title, but hopefully we can make it into post-season and have a crack at the playoff crown – a second best, but still something laudable to aim for,” said Middleton.
The Gustavus men’s soccer team will be back on the pitch for its regular season finale on Saturday, Oct. 29 for a match against Macalester at 1:00 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.