ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s soccer team is set to host Hamline University at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for its final tuneup before MIAC Playoffs begin next week. The Gusties enter tomorrow’s matchup with an overall record of 10-6-1 and 7-3-0 in the MIAC, while the Pipers are 5-10-1 overall and 2-7-1 in the MIAC.
Live online coverage of tomorrow’s match begins at 3:30 p.m.
GUSTAVUS LINKS: ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
HAMLINE LINKS: ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
As is tradition at Gustavus, Saturday is designated as Senior Day and a special tribute is made to the individuals who have dedicated themselves to Gustavus women’s soccer for the past four years. This year, the athletic department, Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie, the coaching staff, parents and fans salute the lone senior – Brittany Chase – who has represented the Gustavus women’s soccer program with pride and class throughout her collegiate career.
Throughout her four seasons wearing the Black and Gold, Chase has played in 68 matches with nine goals, seven assists and 25 points. The Victoria, Minn. native is a communication studies major and has a 3.54 GPA. Brittany is the daughter of Steve and Kristin Chase.
The Gustavus women’s soccer team most recently played Wednesday and made a strong case for a comeback, but ended up losing 3-2 at Concordia College. Even with the loss Gustavus clinched its first ever MIAC Playoff berth as a result of other teams falling out of playoff contention. The playoff berth is Gustavus’ first postseason appearance since 1998 when it reached the second round of the national tournament, which was five years before the MIAC initiated its playoffs.
Concordia led 1-0 at halftime as it scored with less than four minutes remaining in the half. The Cobbers outshot the Gusties 7-2 in the opening 45 minutes.
Gustavus netted the equalizer four minutes into the second half on a goal by Chaselyn Miller (Fy., Brooklyn Park, Minn.), assisted by Maddison Ackiss (Jr., Fairbanks, Alaska). But a pair of Concordia goals within a minute of each other in the 56th minute proved to be too much of a hole to dig out of for the Gusties.
Emily Skogseth (Fy., Burnsville, Minn.) brought the game within one goal at the 69:00 mark, but Concordia held off the strong offensive pressure put on by the Gusties late in the game.
Gustavus outshot Concordia 12-5 in the second half and 14-12 in the game. The Gusties also held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks. Ashley Becker (Fy., Farmington, Minn.) made four saves in net for the Gusties.
Hamline is coming off a 3-0 victory Wednesday against Bethel. It took just 50 seconds for Hamline to score as Brook Pigg, taking advantage of getting the chance to start, fed Arendje Louter, who scored her team leading sixth goal of the season to give the Pipers an edge they would hold all day. Keanna Mienert picked up a rebound and put it into the net at 18:55 to make it 2-0.
HU kept the pressure up on the Royals the rest of the half, holding the visitors to just one shot. Ten minutes into the second half, Mackenzie Zink found Alicia Williams breaking down the right side. Williams took it from there for her third goal of the year to wrap up the scoring. Keeper Amy Ramras took it from there, batting away five shots for her school record 11th shutout of her career and her third this season. Ramras, a junior, also moved into first place among HU goaltenders with a career save percentage of .833.