The Gustavus women’s soccer team jumped to a 1-0 lead over defending MIAC champion Concordia College in the first half and seemed poised for an upset, but the Cobbers rallied for two goals in the second half to claim a 2-1 victory in St. Peter, Minn. on Saturday afternoon.
After a flurry of scoring chances were turned away by Concordia goalkeeper Ali Nelson early in the first half, Gustavus struck with the first goal of the game on a shot by Ashley Anderson that found its way into the corner of the net in the 41st minute. With the goal, Anderson tied teammate Amanda Cartony for the team lead with six goals on the season, and the Gusties entered the half clinging to a one-goal lead against a Concordia squad that had only trailed at the half one other occasion this season.
When play resumed in the second period, Concordia took command of the ball and logged three unanswered shots on goal before Abby Habein took a pass from Susan Obermiller and booted a shot into the corner of the net at the 56:50 mark to tie the match.
The Cobbers struck again at the 81:25 mark with Gina Weiss setting up Sam Johnson for what proved to be the game-winning goal. On the scoring play, Weiss joined teammate Sarah Rounds atop the MIAC leaderboard in assists with five. The goal gave Johnson—the defending MIAC Player of the Year—her fifth goal of the season.
Overall, the Gusties were outshot 15-7 in the match, with Concordia senior Susan Obermiller accounting for five shots. Chelsea Bayer logged all 90 minutes in net for the Gusties, and has now played 630 minutes, which is the second most minutes of any MIAC goalkeeper this season.
With the loss, Gustavus falls to 4-3 on the season and now sports a MIAC record of 0-2. The Gusties will travel to St. Joseph, Minn. for their next match against Saint Benedict on Saturday at 1:00pm. The Cobbers are now 5-1 on the season with a MIAC record of 3-0. The Cobbers will travel to Northfield, Minn. to face St. Olaf on Saturday at 3pm.