SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team played host to UW-Superior on Wednesday afternoon and took home a 5-1 victory. With the win the Gusties move to 7-1, while the Yellowjackets move to 4-2-2.
“It was the battle of the regionally ranked teams today,” said Head Coach Tudor Flintham. “Superior is the No. 3 team in the region so we knew that today would be a massive test and that they would hurt us for portions of the game. So the message was clear, absorb that pressure, try to play to the spaces they give us, and be efficient when we got the chance to go to goal and I think you saw that. The coaching staff are proud of the group effort today. We saw a team who is excited by the big game and a team that will rise to a challenge. We’ll celebrate for about a minute, and then move our focus towards preparing for another huge MIAC game on Tuesday.”
The Gusties got the scoring started early when Raphael Cattelin (Fy., Edina) took a shot that was saved, but the rebound came off to Cole Schwartz (So., Jakarta, Indonesia) who found the back of the net 6:53 into the contest to give Gustavus the early lead.
Superior was quick to respond though, as they crossed a ball into the box a few minutes later that was headed up and over Gustie goalkeeper Wesley Sanders (Fy., Urbandale, Iowa) to even things at 1-1.
Just over midway into the half Gustavus would retake the lead. Palden Choesang (Fy., New Brighton) played a perfect through-ball to Cattelin who put a quick move on the goalkeeper on his first touch and punched one to the back of the net for the goal.
The Black and Gold weren’t done there though, as Cattelin played a perfect cross on the net that was headed in by Scott Heinen (Jr., Aurora, Ill.) in the 34th minute for the 3-1 lead that the Gusties would take into the half.
Matt Gibbons (Jr., Minneapolis) started the second half off in style with a free-kick goal to the top left corner from just outside the box to put Gustavus up 4-1 less than 35 seconds into play.
The scoring would halt for some time before the Gusties got back on the board at the 77 minute mark when Schwartz scored off a volley with the assist going to Nolan Garvin (Jr., Batavia, Ill.) and pushed the lead to 5-1, which the Gusties would hold onto for the win.
Sanders got the win in net making five saves while allowing one goal.
The Gusties are next in action on Tuesday when they travel to Augsburg for a 7 p.m. contest