SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team hosted Augsburg on Tuesday where they took a 2-0 win and improved to 9-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
“We played really well and we knew that we were going to have to be close to perfect today,” said Head Coach Tudor Flintham. “A lot of credit goes to Augsburg for putting the pressure on, it takes two right to put on a good performance, they forced us to go to a different level as a unit. We we didn’t give them any space to breathe, it’s one of the first times this year that we’ve seen a full energy to just press for 90 minutes. Our defensive unit was just ridiculous today. They were outstanding.”
The Gusties had a strong start and maintained possession for most of period one. After four extremely close chances, Gustavus could not find the back of the net and ended the first half scoreless despite seven unanswered shots on the Auggies.
Nine minutes into the second half, Jared Hecht (Fy., Apple Valley) opened up the scoring with his first career goal when a corner kick fell into a crowded six yard goal. Hecht tapped the ball in after a pass from Matthew Gibbons (Sr., Minneapolis). With the assist, Gibbons tied Larry Shelhammer (1972-75) for the program record with his 38th career assist.
“Gibbons has been a huge distributor throughout his career. On a conference level his delivery, his ball striking, is just next level. So it’s not really a surprise that he’s had a lot of assists. In a program like this at Gustavus, having quite a few great players who have scored a lot of goals and an impressive number of assists, to be tied at the top of that list is a big thing and he deserves it.”
The Gusties had a top-notch defensive line and limited Augsburg to two shots in the second half while putting up nine more of their own. With five minutes remaining in the second period, Nick Leach (Sioux Falls, S.D.) delivered on a one-time shot from the top of the 18 that found the bottom right corner of the goal for the 2-0 Gustavus win.
“We’ll wake up tomorrow and start preparing for was a huge game against St. Olaf, there’s a lot riding on it. But we’ve been in these games, so we’re excited to be back.”
Wesley Sanders (So., Urbandale, Iowa) was credited with the shutout win, making one save in the performance.
The Gusties are next in action when they travel to St. Olaf on Saturday for a 12:30 kick-off.