St. Peter, Minn. – After a pair of losses to nationally ranked opponents last weekend at the Gettysburg College Invitational, the Gustavus women’s soccer team was looking for improvement in its game against UW-La Crosse on Saturday afternoon at the Gustie Soccer Field. Improvement they saw, and although they were not able to get on the scoreboard, the Gusties managed to secure a 0-0 tie against the Eagles after regulation and two overtime periods.
“It was night and day for us today compared to last weekend,” said head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “It took us some time to get settled in, but once we did that, we started moving the ball and made some great runs. We were dangerous and we created opportunities, which was nice to see. We were able to find ourselves today and create a bit of an identity.”
Gustavus was able to outshoot UW-La Crosse 13-9 on the afternoon after only managing two shots in its two games against Carnegie Mellon and Gettysburg last weekend. Maddison Ackiss (So., Fairbanks, Alaska) had three of those shots, including one on goal in the final :20 seconds of regulation. Ackiss broke away from the Eagles’ back line and had just goalkeeper Ashley Tracy to beat, but Tracy was able to come up with the save to preserve the match and send it into overtime.
“Just from last weekend to today, we played with more intensity and improved so much,” said Burnett-Kurie. “That much improvement after just one week has me so excited because our ceiling is so high this year and it’s going to be really exciting moving forward, especially having another week of just practice before our next competition.”
In overtime, the Gusties stayed aggressive and booted four shots, two coming from Gustie first years Molly Johnston (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Sophie Leininger (Plymouth, Minn.) within a :30 second span. Tracy was once again able to come away with two saves to keep the game knotted at 0-0. Heather Goff (Sr., Eagan, Minn.) and Brittany Chase (Jr., Victoria, Minn.) also assisted in the Gustie attack by each tallying two shots.
“We just need to keep getting more comfortable with the ball,” said Burnett-Kurie. “If we’re able to have more confidence with that, we’ll be able to take more chances moving off the ball. By doing that, we’ll change how other teams play rather than us having to adjust to what they’re doing.”
Gustie goalkeeper Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Penn.) played all 110 minutes and made a total of four saves. With the complete-match shutout, she moves to 0-1-1.
The Gusties will look to continue their improvement next weekend when they travel across the border to Eau Claire, Wisconsin to take on UW-Eau Claire next Saturday at 2 p.m.