Gustavus junior Estee Berg controls the ball in the Gusties' 2-1 win over Saint Mary's on Wednesday night.
Winona, Minn. – For the second straight match, the Gustie women’s soccer team escaped a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match with a narrow one goal victory. Gustavus defeated Saint Mary’s University 2-1 on Wednesday night to pick up its second MIAC victory of the season. Amanda Cartony (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) scored twice to lead the Gusties to victory. It was the second time this season Cartony has scored multiple goals in a match.
“We showed a lot of resilience and fight in tonight’s game,” remarked Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “We came out strong in the first half moving the ball well, at times the best we have all season. We had moments of brilliance, moving the ball one and two touch around the field.”
It didn’t take long for the Gustie women to get on the scoreboard. In the 18th minute, Tam Meuwissen (Sr., Chanhassen, Minn.) took the ball deep on the left wing and sent a low cross into the box where Cartony put it away. After a touch to control the pass, the junior sent the ball on a low drive off the post and into the net to put Gustavus up 1-0.
“Amanda was fantastic tonight,” stated Burnett-Kurie of Cartony’s play. “Her creativity on the ball is so fun to watch and her ability to create dangerous scoring opportunities is special.”
Saint Mary’s was able to tie the game six minutes in to the second half when Sloane Kurumoto scored on assists by Bethany Schmidt and Tessa Scanion, but Cartony was too much to handle for the Cardinals, scoring in the 75th minute to seal the win for the Gusties. On her second goal, she one-timed a Heather Goff (So., Eagan, Minn.) pass from inside the 18-foot line to beat Cardinal goalkeeper Miranda Halling high for what proved to be the game-winner that left final count at 2-1 in favor of Gustavus.
The Gustie women held the upper hand in shots taken with 18 compared to Saint Mary’s 12. Meuwissen and Goff each registered an assist on the night, while keeper Jessica Richert (Sr., Freeburg, Ill.) tallied six saves.
With the win, Gustavus improves to 4-4-0 overall and 2-2-0 in MIAC play. The Cardinals fall to 0-9-0 overall, 0-4-0 in the MIAC.
The Gusties will take their two-straight conference wins into Saturday afternoon’s battle with Carleton in Northfield. Kick off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
“We head into Saturday with some great confidence,” stated coach Burnett-Kurie of Saturday. “We feel that we can compete with any team in the conference, and we can battle back if we lose the lead. Knowing we possess that resilience is critical heading into the rest of conference play.”