NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s soccer team fell to Carleton College by a final score of 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at Bell Field. The loss drops the Gusties to 0-3-1 in the conference and 5-3-1 overall, while the Knights improve to 2-1-1 in the MIAC and 5-4-2 overall.
“We were tremendous once again the first 20 minutes,” said Coach Mike Middleton. “In fact, to be honest, I think the attack they scored was their first attack. Really soft goal as well – exactly what we didn’t need. Several missed tackles, and a shot that trickled in from the edge of the box – when your luck is out it’s out. That knocked the stuffing out of us, and we are at a point with the luck we’ve had that we needed the bounce of the ball and decisions to go our way. They didn’t.
Unfortunately after that, tackles started to fly in, with a couple of rare ones, one in particular that could have been a straight red,” added Middleton. “You cannot blame Carleton, which had its gander up and the confidence of a lead. Then, after re-establishing ourselves in the game, our ‘keeper took the ball from a cross. Everyone was moving forward, but the ball was knocked out his hands by their forward, who proceeded to score. It was a bit of a shock, and caught everyone on the hop – and the goal was given. We were stunned, and as for the game, it was pretty much that.”
Senior midfielder Brandon McGarrity led the Knight scoring attack, as he scored two of the three Carleton goals. McGarrity struck first at the 13:48 mark, senior forward John Fox gave Carleton its second goal at 38:28 with his fourth goal of the season, and McGarrity topped off the Knight hat trick with his second goal of the day at 55:44. All three goals were unassisted.
“Carleton was able to settle back on a two-nil lead in the second half, and like last week, we were always going to have the chance of being countered by pushing forward to try and get back in the game,” said Middleton.
Carleton outshot Gustavus 23-7, including a 10-3 mark on goal. Anders Severson (Fy., Lino Lakes, Minn.) suffered the loss between the posts for the Gusties after surrendering the three goals and making five saves. The Knights’ Brandon Hilliard earned the victory after posting a shutout and making three saves.
The Gusties will look to rebound when they travel to Macalester College on Tuesday evening for a 7:30 p.m. game in St. Paul. Tuesday’s battle with the Scots will serve as the rescheduled game from the originally scheduled matchup that was postponed due to lightning.