St. Scholastica 3, Gustavus 2 (Box)
DULUTH, Minn. – After falling behind 3-0 after one half of play, the Gustavus Adolphus College men’s soccer team nearly made a fierce comeback, but fell just short in a 3-2 loss to the College of St. Scholastica on Sunday afternoon at Saints Field. The loss snaps a two-game win streak for the Gusties, who fall to 7-5-3 overall with the loss, while the Saints improve to 15-2-1.
“It was a decent game today,” said Coach Mike Middleton. “I thought St. Scholastica was the best team we have played all year. We played well at times, with the game going in ebbs and flows.”
Gustavus got out to a slow start, as St. Scholastica scored three goals in the first 38 minutes of play. The Saints got goals from Jonny Harkin at 8:45, Sean Morgan at 17:20, and Jonny Winter at 38:17, with Kyle Farrar assisting on each.
However, the Gusties did not quit, and just 15 seconds before halftime, Ian Smith (Amherst, N.H.) received a pass from John Fox (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn.) and was able to get a shot over Saints’ goalie Sandy Davidson-Hunt to cut the St. Scholastica lead to two. Then, 15 minutes into the second half, Matt Murakami (Eden Prairie, Minn.) took a cross from Konnor Tranoris (Sr., Des Moines, Minn.) and put it home for his third goal of the year to make the score 3-2.
“We certainly came back into the game, giving it a right go,” said Middleton. “We showed great character coming back into it, and were unlucky not to take a better result from the game.”
Gustavus and St. Scholastica were nearly equal in shots taken, with the Saints taking 18, compared to the Gusties’ 17 and each team taking 10 shots on goal. Matt Bateman (Fy., Savage, Minn.) suffered the loss for the Black and Gold after making seven saves and allowing the three goals.
The Gusties will head to Concordia College on Wednesday for a 1 p.m. game with the Cobbers.