St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team made short work of Crown College in its final non-conference match of the regular season on Tuesday afternoon. The Gusties added six second half goals to a 3-0 first half lead to cruise past Crown 9-2. Gustavus heads into its finale at 13-2-1 overall, while Crown drops to 6-9-2 with the loss.
“Some great experience for a lot of players today. Nice ball movement from the lads and some good goals made for a fun afternoon,” said Head Coach Mike Middleton. “The opposition team must be congratulated for battling away right to the end. A well played match.”
With three goals on the afternoon, Zach Brown (So., Eau Claire, Wis.) became the first Gustie to record a hat-trick since Justin Eglseder did so against Saint Mary’s on Sept. 27 last year. Brown scored the opening goal of the match at the 1:35 mark before adding second half goals in the 69th minute and 85th minutes.
Konnor Tranoris (Fr., Des Moines, Iowa) also filled up the scoresheet with four points on two goals and two assists in the match. Tranoris scored Gustavus’ second goal at 15:53 to extend the lead to 2-0, then later scored an unassisted goal at 78:01 to put the Gusties up 7-1.
“A nice hat-trick from Zach Brown, and Konnor Tranoris looked very sharp, which was pleasing,” said Middleton.
After a goal by Jackson Zoellner (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) put Gustavus on top 3-0 (31:25) heading into the break, fellow senior Bryan Bjork (Stillwater, Minn.) pushed the lead to 4-0 with a goal in the 48th minute to start off the second half.
With the score at 4-1 after a goal by Crown’s Truman Shetler, Brown, Casey Gilbert (Jr., Marshfield, Wis.), and Tranoris put the Black and Gold on top 7-1 after they each scored a goal within 10 minutes of each other.
Storm player Jason Budish scored with five minutes remaining in the match, and Evan Odean (Sr., Duluth, Minn.) recorded his first goal of the season in the 90th minute to bring the score to a final at 9-2.
Goalkeeper Brett Ylonen (So., Lake Elmo, Minn.) picked up his 11th win of the year after playing the majority of the match in net.
The Gustavus men’s soccer team will finish the 2012 regular season with an MIAC tilt against Macalester on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in St. Paul.