Game Information:
Date: Monday, October 19
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: St. Peter, Minn. | Gustie Soccer Field
Playing Surface: Natural Grass
Live Coverage: Video | Stats
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s soccer team will welcome Bethany Lutheran College to the Gustie Soccer Field on Monday for a 3:30 p.m. game. The Gusties bring a 6-4-3 overall record into the contest, while the Vikings come to town at 4-10-2 overall.
Gustavus is most recently coming off a 2-1 victory over Bethel University on Saturday in St. Peter. Just over minute after Gustavus substituted seven players at once, the Gusties got on the board when first-year forward Arthur Parens (Wayzata, Minn.) scored in the 37th minute to give the home squad a 1-0 lead. The Gusties maintained their lead for the remainder of the first half and well into the second, but the Royals got the tying score they needed with just 10:30 to play off a goal from the Royals’ Brendan Reich who was able to chip the ball over Gustie goalkeeper Anders Severson (Fy., Lino Lakes, Minn.) who was charging forward in an attempt to make the save. However, a foul on Bethel gave Gustavus a free kick from just outside the box with 6:47 to play. Bjerk took the kick for the Gusties and managed to curl it over a wall of six Royals and past Bethel goalie Jakob Bartels into the far righthand corner of the net to seal the game.
“We had another great game today and played very well overall,” said Coach Mike Middleton following the game. “Both our upperclassmen and younger guys controlled possession today for a majority of the game and our group of first-years came in and were able to score which was great to see. Our problem this year has been being able to turn the amount of time we’ve had possession into goals. We made it harder on ourselves than we needed to today, but we had some great looks on goal and got the conversions we needed.”
Bethany Lutheran is most recently coming off a 2-0 loss to No. 23 St. Scholastica. The Saints scored both of their goals in the first half, one in the 18th minute and the other in the 25th on a penalty kick. The Vikings were not able to muster a shot in the first half, however, put three on goal in the second half but were not able to convert.
Bethany Lutheran comes into the contest at No. 6 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) standings. The Vikings are led in scoring by senior forward Jorge Perez who has scored 14 points this season off of seven goals. Sophomore goalie Matt Bitter has collected 110 saves while posting a 1-4-1 record between the posts for Bethany Lutheran.
Today’s meeting will be the fourth between Gustavus and Bethany Lutheran in men’s soccer. The Gusties hold the advantage in the all-time series with a 3-0-0 record against the Vikings. When these two teams last met, Gustavus earned a 7-0 win over Bethany on Sept. 3, 2014 in Mankato, Minnesota.