Sophie Leininger battles for the ball against St. Thomas.
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s soccer team treated its Homecoming crowd to a 2-1 victory over the University of St. Thomas on Saturday at the Gustie Soccer Field. The win improves the Gusties to 4-3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while also improving their win streak to four matches.
The match started out slow, but in the 17th minute Chaselyn Miller (Fy., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) found the back of the net to score her first collegiate goal. The goal originated from a corner kick, which came back to Sophie Leininger (So., Plymouth, Minn.) just outside the 18-yard box and she played it across to Miller, who then took a touch and shot it past the keeper on the far post.
“Once we got out of that first 10-15 minutes where we were figuring it out and getting into the rhythm of the game we started to find feet and fall back into the things we’ve been working on for the entire season, and that was great to see,” Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie said. “We have a lot of confidence going right now, which is a good thing and you can see it with how we are taking chances and we found a lot of success today.”
Gustavus took a 2-0 lead in the 79th minute after winning a free kick from about 50 yards out. The kick was played high and the St. Thomas keeper got a tip on the ball, but with three Gusties crashing the net, Hannah Sturtz (So., Plymouth, Minn.) headed it in for the two-score lead and her second goal of the season. Emily Odermatt (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) was credited with the assist.
St. Thomas scored its first and only goal of the game in the final minute of play, but time ran out before the Tommies could muster a comeback and the Gusties claimed their first win over UST since 2011.
The Gusties outshot the Tommies 16-6. Keeper Ashley Becker (Fy., Farmington, Minn.) recorded three saves.
Gustavus continues MIAC play at 7 p.m., Sept. 30 at Saint Mary’s University.