St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s soccer team began its four-match homestand with a 4-0 win over Martin Luther College on Wednesday afternoon at the Gustie Soccer Field. Zach Brown (Sr., Eau Claire, Wis.) led the offense with a pair of goals, as the Gusties scored twice in the opening half before adding two goals late in the second. Gustavus improves to 4-2-0 overall with the win, while Martin Luther drops to 0-3-0 following the loss.
“I thought the lads moved the ball around as best they could on a difficult surface,” said Head Coach Mike Middleton. “We maintained possession for large swathes of the game and scored some nice goals. The lads played very well tonight.”
The Gusties struck first at the 17:59 mark when Zach Brown scored on an assist from Ryan Tollefsrud (Sr., Spearfish, S.D.). Brown later capped the match’s scoring with his fourth goal of the season at the 81:54 mark when he knocked in a dime from Patrick Roth (So., Stillwater, Minn.).
Sandwiched between Brown’s were goals by Patrick Roth and Ryan Tollefsrud. Roth scored on a Henry Brose (So., New Richmond, Wis.) assist at 43:07 to give the Black and Gold a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime, and Tollefrsud kicked off the second half’s scoring with a goal of his own at 79:21.
“Two goals from Zach Brown and two more from strike partners Ryan ‘Tolly’ Tollefsrud and Patrick ‘PD’ Roth – all of which certainly warmed the crowd up,” Middleton commented. “It was a fun night, even if it was the coldest night of the season so far. The fans had to drag out their old blankets and winter coats for the game, but it was an excellent performance and good value for the money.”
Braden Schmid (Sr., West Fargo, N.D.) and Brett Ylonen (Sr., Lake Elmo, Minn.) combined for a split shutout for the second time in three matches. Schmid wasn’t tested in the opening half, while Ylonen made one save in the second half. Their counterparts, Erich Hahn and Caleb King, each played a half with Hahn taking the loss after making five saves and King finishing the final 45 minutes with three saves.
The Gusties outshot the Knights 30-3 and held a 15-0 corner kick advantage.
Mike Middleton was also pleased with his bench as 26 different players saw time on the pitch. “Really nice short cameo debut for Everett Rinke and very pleasing home debuts for freshman Isaac Bloom, Matt Murakami, John Fox, and Philip Evans. They all fitted in seamlessly, which was nice to see,” he said.
The Gusties will now gear up for a busy weekend against regionally ranked opponents College of St. Scholastica and UW-Oshkosh. Gustavus will face the Saints at 4:00 p.m. on Friday and the Titans at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.
“Now we look forward to hosting our NCAA opponent from last season, St. Scholastica, this Friday,” said Middleton. “They have loaded up with ten of eleven starters from the UK and Ireland. Just remember that the U.S. did much better in the World Cup than the English team – the Scottish and Irish didn’t even qualify!”