St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team picked up its first win of the 2013 season when it defeated UW-Stout 4-2 at the Gustie Soccer Field on Monday. After taking a 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the second half, the Blue Devils came back to tie the game, but the Gusties responded with two goals in the final 10 minutes to capture the 4-2 win. Gustavus improves to 1-1-0 on the season while UW-Stout falls to 1-1-0.
“I think we came into today with a little more confidence,” mentioned head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “We knew that when we played well on Friday we could move the ball well, so having that confidence helped us coming into the game. We moved the ball from the start and by doing that we were able to create a lot of dangerous opportunities.”
First-year Maddison Ackiss (Fairbanks, Alaska) got the Gustie offense going in the 38th minute of play with the first goal of her collegiate career. The forward took the ball up the left side, outrunning a UW-Stout defender and leaving nothing but the UW-Stout goalkeeper Robbie Shelby between the ball and the back of the net. Ackiss punched a shot past a charging Shelby to put Gustavus on top 1-0 in the early going.
“We had a good combination of energy and movement to start with,” said Ackiss. “We had good possession from the start and I think that just carried on throughout the game.”
Gustavus would take the 1-0 lead to halftime, only to score 2:25 into the second half. This time, it was Amanda Cartony (Sr., Stillwater, Minn.) who found herself on the end of a corner kick from Leah Brossoit (Sr., Rochester, Minn.). Cartony sent a header into the back of the net to extend the Gustie lead to 2-0.
However, any momentum gained by the pair of Gustavus goals was negated by UW-Stout, who came back with two unanswered goals to tie the score in the 77th minute. The first goal unveiled itself in the 60th minute when Alix Hyduke was awarded a penalty kick after being fouled inside the box. Hyduke made good on her penalty kick to pull the Blue Devils within one (2-1). UW-Stout scored again in the 77th minute when Kelly Conn cleaned up a rebound in front of the goal and put it away for her second goal of the season. With the score now tied 2-2 and the momentum in favor of UW-Stout, the Gusties came back with a push of their own.
“After Stout did a good job of coming back and tying the game up, some of our leaders stepped up,” remarked Burnett-Kurie. “We were able to find ourselves and you really saw the players who pushed forward and got us going again.”
In the 82nd minute, Brittany Chase (So., Chanhassen, Minn.) brought the ball up the right side and centered it in front of the net to Maddison Ackiss. A quick touch from Ackiss directed the ball to the back post where Amanda Cartony found herself all alone. Cartony put it away for her second goal of the game and the Gusties had the lead once more with the score 3-2.
Coursey Edwards (Fy., Eden Prairie, Minn.) tacked on an insurance goal for Gustavus in the 88th minute when she received a pass from Jana Elliott (Fy., Eagan, Minn.) on the back post. Edwards did not let an open net go to waste, burying the ball in the back of the net to put the final exclamation point on the 4-2 win.
Caroline Olson (Jr., York, Pa.) recorded the win between the posts for the Gusties while Paige Meyer suffered the loss for UW-Stout.
Gustavus will return to the pitch on Saturday, Sept. 7th when it travels to La Crosse, Wis. to take on UW-La Crosse. That match is set for a 2:00 p.m. kick off.