Tacoma, Wash. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s soccer team concluded its trip to the Pacific Northwest with a 3-2 loss at the hands of the University of Puget Sound on Sunday afternoon at East Field.
Although the Gusties jumped all over their Northwest Conference opponent with a pair of goals inside the opening 14 minutes of the match, they could not keep the surging Loggers – specifically striker Oliver Field – at bay for the remainder of the contest. With a 2-0 lead following a Ryan Tollefsrud (Sr., Spearfish, S.D.) goal in the 14th minute, Field posted a hat trick with goals in the 25th, 40th, and 46th minutes to allow Puget Sound its first victory of the season.
“The lads played really well today,” said Head Coach Mike Middleton. “We scored two lovely goals and could easily have put the game away. We generated lots of chances but thats soccer.”
Gustavus drops to 3-2-0 overall with the loss, while Puget Sound improves to 1-2-1 with the win.
“We’ve played top teams this weekend and dominated both games. We looked really sharp and I’m very happy where we are at,” Middleton added. “Another two nationally ranked teams from last year next weekend to look forward to before we get into conference play. It should be a fun week back at home.”
Gustavus was on the board within the opening five minutes when Patrick Roth (So., Stillwater, Minn.) buried a pass from Zach Brown (Sr., Eau Claire, Wis.) at the 3:37 mark for his first goal of the season.
Just under 10 minutes after Roth’s goal, Ryan Tollefsrud found the back of the net for the second time this year on an assist from Nick Kieser (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.).
Tollefsrud’s goal signified the end of Gustauvs’s scoring and the start of the Oliver Field show. Field cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal from Sean Ryan at 24:59, then tied the match at 39:29 off an assist from Cameron Lorek.
Just :28 seconds into the second half, Field completed the hat trick with the eventual game-winner, which once again came on an assist from Sean Ryan.
The Gusties outshot Puget Sound 13-9 and held a 9-2 corner kick advantage.
Brett Ylonen (Sr., Lake Elmo, Minn.) and Braden Schmid (Sr., West Fargo, N.D.) split time between the posts with Ylonen taking the first half and Schmid taking the second. Ylonen allowed two goals and made one save, while Schmid allowed the game-winner and was not tested otherwise. Puget Sound goalkeeper Nathan King picked up the win in a 90-minute, three save effort.
The Gustavus men’s soccer team will return to Minnesota and will be back on the pitch Wednesday, Sept. 10 in a non-conference matchup against Martin Luther College at 5:00 p.m. on the Gustie Soccer Field. Wednesday’s contest is the beginning of a four-match homestand for the Gustavus men’s soccer team.