NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team played in its second straight overtime game Saturday, this time ending in a 1-1 draw against St. Olaf. The tie moves the Gusties to 1-6-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
“Exciting game for the fans today,” Head Coach Mike Middleton said. “I was really pleased for our lads. They deserved something out of the game. This is the first domino to fall, and we can now see that we have a bit of momentum. It was a really encouraging result, and performance.”
After a scoreless first half, St. Olaf ended the shutout with a breakaway goal in the 55th minute.
“That was a really nice goal,” Middleton said. “We should have stopped the move in its infancy, in truth, but you have to give credit where its due.”
The Oles held on to the one-goal advantage for nearly the rest of the game, but in the final second of the match, Patrick Roth (Sr., Stillwater, Minn.) knocked in a header to tie the game right before the final buzzer sounded.
“The lads responded really well, dominating the game and in the finals second we crafted a wonderful goal, with freshman Luke Laurich (Batavia, Ill.) feeding Matt Murakami (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.), who fed a delightful ball across the goal for Patrick Roth to score with his head. It was a real collector’s item of a goal, and to be honest we all celebrated pretty well!
“Luke Launch earlier had probably the best chance of the game, except for the goals, after chipping their ‘keeper who had come off his line, but it just went over the crossbar. It was a tough old game and I have to say that St. Olaf, despite winning the MIAC playoffs last year, was better than I thought it would be. In the first two MIAC games we played last year’s champions and playoff champions, and taken both of them into overtime with our young, fledgling team side. I know we’ve won four of the last eight titles on offer, but this is pretty much a complete new team.
“All the lads played well and I hate single anyone out but young left-back Kyle Monson (So., Verona, Wis.) had the best game of his career. He was tough in the tackle, won headers and played some lovely shaped balls with his left foot. Patrick (PD) Roth and Henry Brose (Hudson, Wis.), the two seniors, along with juniors Matt Murakami and Isaac Bloom (Edina, Minn.), keep driving this team forward with the strength of their personalities. All four were truly outstanding today and PD’s goal capped a great performance.”
Matt Bateman (So., Savage, Minn.) played all 110 minutes in goal for the Gusties and made eight saves. Gustavus has a week off and returns to MIAC play next Saturday at St. Thomas.
“We’ve had a tough year in terms of results. We’ve played really well, but nothing has quite fallen for us, but it feels like the momentum is changing now. Great credit to all the boys for their courage and tenacity. They were great today!”