SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team hosted Saint Mary’s on Saturday and took down the Cardinals 2-0. With the win the Gusties improve to 6-1 on the season and 2-0 in the MIAC while the Cardinals fall to 3-3 and 0-1 in the conference.
“Every win in the MIAC is a big result but we need to up our level from here,” said Head Coach Tudor Flintham. “Saint Mary’s is well coached and hard working and threw us off our game today. But, we need to control the controllables, and our focus needs to improve. Today was an important reminder that every team in the MIAC is capable of catching you out. We’ll refocus and press the reset button, knowing that we have a lot more work ahead of us.”
Cole Schwartz (So., Jakarta, Indonesia) was able to get the scoring started in the 17th minute when he was fouled in the box and converted the ensuing penalty kick to give the Gusties a 1-0 advantage. The team’s played stout defense the rest of the half, each getting a few scoring chances they couldn’t convert and the score stayed 1-0 at the half.
In the second half the teams played even over halfway into the half before Palden Choesang (Fy., New Brighton) made a perfect cross to Schwartz who played it out of midair with his left-foot and went to the top of the goal for the score. The Gusties would hold the Cardinals scoreless the last 22 minutes to secure the 2-0 victory.
Wesley Sanders (Fy., Urbandale, Iowa) got the win in net for Gustavus to improve to 6-1 on the year.
“We could have scored many more goals the last few games and need to dial in and be more clinical, as well as cleaner in the build,” said Flintham. “But overall, we feel okay and like we’re in a good spot.”
The Gusties are next in action Wednesday when they host UW-Superior for a 4 p.m. contest.