Senior captain Brittany Chase earned MIAC Athlete of the Week honors after scoring three goals in as many games.
The Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team today played to a 2-2 tie with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in its season opener at the Gustie Soccer Field.
The Gusties trailed 2-0 after eight minutes of play, but senior captain Brittany Chase (Victoria, Minn.) ended the shutout with a goal at the 12:34 mark. Play resumed for another 10 minutes until Chase tallied her second score of the game with 22:42 left in the half.
“I cut in with my left and I saw the goalie was coming out so I chipped it over into the top left of the net,” Chase said of her first goal. “On the second goal, Sophie [Leininger] was dribbling at the top of the 18 [yard mark] and she kind of lost control so I stepped in and chipped it up again.”
Sophie Leininger (Plymouth, Minn.) assisted on both of Chase’s goals.
Gustavus and UW-Eau Claire played evenly throughout the game as each team had 17 shots on goal. The Gusties took eight shots in the first period, five in the second, one in the first overtime and three in the final 10 minutes of play.
In her first collegiate match, first-year goalkeeper Ashley Becker (Farmington, Minn.) was tested with eight shots on goal and made six saves in 110 minutes of play.
“It was good to see that after making some mistakes in the beginning we were still able to bounce back and really find the possession and play well for the rest of the game,” Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie said. “We were able to create a lot of opportunities for ourselves, which was good the see out of our offense.”
The Gusties move to 0-0-1 overall and travel to Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa on Sept. 5 for a 1 p.m. match against the Knights.
It must have felt good to come back from a two goal deficit and tie a team that beat you 4-1 last year. Congratulations to Brittany, Sophie, indeed the whole team.