The Gustavus women’s soccer team fell to UW-La Crosse 2-1 in a heartbreaking finish to end a three game home stand. Gustavus junior Chelsea Craven tied the game at one in the 69th minute, but the Eagles’ Chelsea Hall scored the game winner with under two minutes remaining in regulation for UW-La Crosse. Gustavus falls to 1-3-2 on the season, while UW-La Crosse improves their record to 4-2-1.
After an even 40 minutes of play in the first half, UW-La Crosse’s Cayla Duffy got the ball twenty yards from goal after a failed clearing attempt by the Gustie defenders. Her shot beat Gustavus senior goalkeeper Ashley Ohlson to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead heading into the half. Gustavus outshot the Eagles 6-4 in the first half, but were unable to put any past goalkeeper Amanda Clark. Clark made three saves in the first half, one of which came off the foot of Gustie co-captian Christy Tupy from point blank range. Tupy got the ball and fired a quick, hard shot that Clark had to dive to barely tip wide of the goal.
In the second half, Gustavus again controlled a majority of the play in the midfield and were able to generate a slew of chances. The best came when Chelsea Craven and Megan McMillan worked a give-and-go to get into scoring position. McMillan passed the ball to Craven, while being taken down by an Eagle defender. Craven shot the ball over the head of the Eagles’ keeper and off the crossbar into the net to tie the game at one. Less than a minute later, Craven again got the ball inside the penalty area and had her shot tipped over the net by Clark. Becca Hagen then stole the ball from an Eagle defender a minute later, but the ensuing shot was right at Clark, who made the save.
With under two minutes remaining in regulation, UW-La Crosse was awarded a corner kick. After the initial kick, the ball bounced around in front of the Gustavus goal until UW-La Crosse’s Chelsea Hall struck the ball past Ohlson to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead with only 1:19 remaining. The Eagles controlled the ball as time ticked away to preserve the victory.
The Gusties did hold a 15-8 advantage in shots over the Eagles and a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks, despite the loss. Goalkeeper Ashley Ohlson made two saves in the match for the Gusties and falls to 0-1-2 on the season. UW-La Crosse keeper Amanda Clark finished with eight saves and improved to 4-1-1 on the season.
Gustavus will be on the road for its next three matches against conference opponents. The first will take place in St. Joseph, Minn. at 1 p.m. versus the Blazers from the College of Saint Benedict.