Anders Severson kept Saint Mary’s scoreless on Tuesday night in Winona.
WINONA, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s soccer team played to a 0-0 tie with Saint Mary’s University in double overtime on Tuesday evening. The tie is the first of the Gusties’ season and moves their record to 5-2-1 overall and 0-2-1 in the conference, while the Cardinals move to 3-4-2 overall and 0-2-2 in the MIAC.
“A top class performance tonight,” said Coach Mike Middleton. “I’m not sure what else we could have done differently to be frank – if it was a boxing match, they would have had to stop it. It’s the second game in a row we’ve dominated, with the opposition just hoping to catch us on the break – at least we did not fall for the sucker punch tonight. Sometimes you need the ball to roll for you, but it didn’t tonight. I think we must have had several black cats run across our path – we could’t buy any luck. But, a really pleasing performance and great to watch, albeit a little frustrating.”
Gustavus outshot Saint Mary’s 16-9 in the contest, including an 8-3 mark on goal, but could not get a ball by Cardinal keeper Evan Claffy who evened his record to 2-2-2 after making eight saves. Gustie goalkeeper Anders Severson (Lino Lakes, Minn.) moved his record to 5-2-1 on the year after collecting three saves in all 110 minutes played.
“We need to find a way of hitting the back of the net, and quickly with two tough games coming up,” said Middleton. “However, in truth, the strikers today were class tonight – Konnor Tranoris looked like Luis Suarez at times. But, after losing 13 seniors, including three All-Americans and two conference MVP’s, it was never going to be easy – and to rub salt in that wound, we’ve lost two veteran starters to long-term injuries. With 15 new players on the first-team squad alone, I thought we played well, especially with two players making their first ever starts. We’re 5-2-1, and we could, perhaps, with a bit of luck, be much better even than that.”
The Gusties will be back on the road Saturday when they head to Carleton College for a 1 p.m. game with the Knights (4-4-2, 1-1-1 MIAC).