Photo courtesy of BJ Pickard, MIAC Athletics.
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team traveled to St. Paul on Wednesday to take on St. Thomas and took home the victory 2-1. The Gusties, who started five players in their first year in the program and played eight total in the contest, move to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC while the Tommies are 1-3-3 and 0-1 in the conference.
“Firstly, St. Thomas is just an incredible team,” said Head Coach Tudor Flintham. “Top to bottom their squad is unbelievable and they’re the best defensive unit we’ve seen all year so we knew it was going to be an absolute battle for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, we had some guys get injured so we had to have some guys play some positions they haven’t played before. But, our squad was just phenomenal and we were clinical enough and although we had a few more chances to score more goals, the 2-1 win over the Tommies helps us build momentum moving forward.”
The Gusties got the scoring started in the ninth minute when Cole Schwartz (So., Jakarta, Indonesia) put in his eighth goal of the season with assists going to Raphael Cattelin (Fy., Edina) and Matt Gibbons (Jr., Minneapolis). The Tommies responded quickly though with a goal of their own in the 14th minute to even things at 1-1. The game then went scoreless the rest of the half.
In half two, Trace Dobson (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) broke the tie at the 62-minute mark when Schwartz got the ball just outside the box and found Dobson on the right side who put a shot across the goalies face to the far side for the goal to put the Gusties up 2-1. Gustavus played strong defense and got solid goaltending the last 28 minutes to preserve the victory.
The Gusties outshot the Tommies 17-16 in the contest with St. Thomas putting one more shot on goal (7) than Gustavus (6).
Wesley Sanders (Fy., Urbandale, Iowa) got the win in net to improve to 5-1, making six saves while allowing just one goal.
The Gusties will next be in action Saturday when they host Saint Mary’s for a 1 p.m. contest.