The 2014 women's soccer team (photo courtesy of Sport Pix Photography)
St. Peter, Minnesota – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team will kick off its 2014 season by heading east to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to take part in the Gettysburg College Tournament on August 29 and 30. There, the Gusties will compete against Carnegie Mellon University on Friday at 4 p.m. and Gettysburg College on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Gustavus is looking to build upon a season in which they compiled an overall record of 8-9-0. Those eight victories were the best season total since 2007, when the Gusties went 8-10-0. The team has improved its win total in each year since 2011.
The Gusties return six starters from last year’s squad, including top goal-scorer Maddison Ackiss (So., Fairbanks, Alaska), along with midfielders Coursey Edwards (So., Eden Praire, Minn.) and Heather Goff (Sr., Eagan, Minn.), forward Brittany Chase (Jr., Victoria, Minn.), defender Karlye Smith (Sr., Eau Claire, Wis.) and goalkeeper Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Penn.).
Both Carnegie Mellon and Gettysburg are coming off of winning campaigns in 2013. Carnegie Mellon tallied a 9-5-2 overall record and earned a spot in the NCAA National Tournament, where they fell in the first round to York College 1-0. Gettysburg boasted a 12-2-4 overall record and fell in the Centennial Conference Women’s Soccer Championship semifinals to Haverford College.
Live stats and a live feed of both games will be available via the Gettysburg Athletics webpage.
Match Information:
Dates: Friday Aug. 29 and Saturday Aug. 30
Times: Friday: 4 p.m., Saturday: 7 p.m.
Site: Gettysburg, Penn.
Field: Clark Field
Playing Surface: Artificial Turf
Series history:
Gustavus has never faced Carnegie Mellon, however, it is familiar with the Tartan’s conference, the University Athletic Association. The Gusties have an overall record of 2-6-1 against three schools from the UAA that include Emory University, University of Chicago and Washington University. Gustavus has also never faced Gettysburg and has never faced a member of Gettysburg’s conference, the Centennial Conference.
By the numbers:
8: The number of returners that started in six games or more last season
32: The total points tallied by last season’s first-year players, good for 46% of the team’s total points
.127: 2013 shot-percentage in MIAC play, best for third in the MIAC