(photo courtesy of SPX Sports)
SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team begins its 2019 campaign Friday when it travels to Cornell for a 4 p.m. contest. After a three-year hiatus from the NCAA Tournament, the Gusties were able to make their way back last season after winning the MIAC regular season title and earning an at-large bid before falling to Dominican 2-0 in the opening round. Head Coach Tudor Flintham is set to begin his second season at the helm of the program and looks to build off last season’s success.
“We obviously had a bunch of success last year and from the outside some people thought that was pretty unexpected but that’s one of the cool things about Gustavus men’s soccer because there is always an expectation of being a champion,” said Flintham. “We had a team full of soldiers last year that really bought into what we were doing and they would admit that early on we weren’t really in sync in terms of systematically what we wanted to achieve, but that’s to be expected with a first year head coach. One of the things this group is really excited about is that we now have guys on the field teaching a large group of newcomers what’s expected of them.”
The Gusties return five starters from a team that went 8-1-1 in the conference last season with a 14-4-1 mark overall. Leading the charge is Matt Gibbons (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn.), who received Second Team All-America honors last season as well as All-Conference, thanks to a league-leading 25 points on seven goals and 11 assists.
Scott Heinen (Jr., Aurora, Ill.) also received All-Conference honors last season after tallying three goals and five assists for 11 points while Luke Laurich (Sr., Batavia, Ill.) put up 11 points also, with four goals and three assists and was named CoSIDA Academic All-District in the process. Other top returners include Trace Dobson (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.), Will Richards (Sr., Hudson, Wis.), Cody Billins (Sr., Farmington, Minn.), Joe Brandel (Sr., St. Louis Park, Minn.), and Nolan Garvin (So., Batavia, Ill.).
The Gusties bring in 16 new players and coach Flintham is looking forward to what that class can provide to the team.
“As a coaching staff this year our big conversation has been that talent won’t be an issue, it’s going to be about integrating our new players and making sure they feel comfortable and confident,” he said. “Our returning guys are aware that they need to be patient with these new guys and the speed of play may not be where they want it to be early on. We are just trying to keep our new guys eager and hungry and keep them wanting more and that’s why they might not all get the minutes they’re expecting early on.”
Last season, the Gusties allowed just 16 goals in 19 contests but lost a big core of their defenders as well as every minute in net. Coach Flintham looks to his offense, though, to help his defensive style of play.
“Last year we actually didn’t talk a lot about defensive concepts and talked more about attacking concepts and making sure we were solid in the positional counter-shapes and some of those other pieces. It will always be about a system defense for us and we have an incredible group of young goalkeepers and it’s still open competition but we feel like we have a pretty special player who’s starting to step up his game and a few other young defenders who are stepping up. Then up front we have some guys who will allow us to sustain pressure on teams.”
Another key to Gustavus’s success this season will stem from the hiring of two new assistant coaches. Tyler Oliver and Rex Carrell are both first year assistants for the Black and Gold, while Josh Lee will continue his role as a goalkeeper coach.
“We’re really really lucky,” said Flintham. “Josh returns as our goalkeepers coach and he was a great keeper at Concordia when they were competing for MIAC titles. Tyler had a very good MIAC career as a player and he was an unbelievable goal scorer by creating attacking chances so that will be his main role for us. He was part of a group that went to a Final Four so he knows what it takes to get there and he’ll help our attackers out. Rex actually played for me at Nebraska Wesleyan and he was a big part of a massive culture change in that program. He was part of a freshman class that played a bunch and he helped anchor the midfield and was a big part of build out and possessive principles of getting into the final third.”
The Gusties, who made the NCAA tournament from 2012-2014 before a three-year drought have their sights set on getting back there, but they realize there is stiff competition in the way.
“The returners have already talked about what they want to achieve this season and that is to get back to the NCAA Tournament and they want to get back to the national championship game where Gustavus has been before,” Flintham said. “The special thing about this group is they stay very process oriented. The slogan the team has adopted the last year and a half has been ‘don’t trip on a pebble because you’re focused on the finish line,’ as they’re just trying to take things step-by-step but the reality is that guys know the expectation is we’re going for title number 22 in the MIAC and a berth to the NCAA tournament. The objective for us will always be the NCAA championship game.”