St. Paul, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team fell at the hands of St. Thomas 1-0 on Saturday. Tommie Kelsey Sargent scored in the 32nd minute on an assist from Steph McCartan, which proved to be the game-winner, as Gustavus could not mount a comeback in the second half. With the loss, the Gusties fall to 6-9-0 on the year, and 3-6-0 in the MIAC. St. Thomas improves to 6-9-1 overall, and 4-4-1 in the MIAC.
“Today was a battle,” stated head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “We came out well from the first whistle and played for a full 90 minutes. We competed physically while creating several very dangerous opportunities that forced their goalkeeper to come up with some exceptional stops.”
The Tommies held the upper hand in shots for the duration of the match, finishing with a margin of +17 (22-5). The Gustavus defense withstood 17 second half shots, including six on net. St. Thomas also won the corner kick battle with a final count of 12-0.
Gustavus senior keeper Jessica Richert (Freeburg, Ill.) tallied eight saves on the afternoon to keep the Gusties’ hopes alive, but a number of dangerous opportunities came up short for the Gustie offense. Richert is now just three saves from moving in to third place on the all-time saves list in Gustavus history.
“There are a lot of positives we can take from this game,” said Burnett-Kurie. “One of those is playing until the final whistle, and even earning a free kick with less than two minutes left. Thats the beauty and the frustration with soccer – you can play well but not have the results to show for it.”
Gustavus will be back in action on Wednesday, October 24th when they host St. Catherine at 3:30 in St. Peter.