ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s soccer team earned its fourth straight victory with a 3-0 shutout over Bethel on Saturday afternoon at the Gustie Soccer Field. The win bumps the Gusties’ record to 9-4-1 overall and 7-1-0 in the MIAC, while the Royals fall to 3-11-0 overall and 0-8-0 in the MIAC.
“It was great to get multiple goals as well as keep the goose egg to get another shutout,” said Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “We came out and knew it was going to be another battle. Even though Bethel doesn’t necessarily have the record to show for it, we’ve been in that situation before where you’re still a talented team and things just aren’t going your way. We came out with the right mentality and scored early off a great combination and were able to keep the momentum flowing from there on and played some great soccer.”
Gustavus was able to get on the scoreboard early when junior midfielder Coursey Edwards (Eden Prarie, Minn.) put one home just 3:12 into the first half to score her second goal of the season and first in MIAC play off an assist from Sophie Leininger (So., Plymouth, Minn.).
“We combined up the right side where Sophie drove to the end line before beating her defender one-on-one to find Coursey on the back post who had a finish right out of the playbook,” said Burnett-Kurie of Edwards’ game-winner.
The rest of the first half remained scoreless, but the Gusties doubled their lead at the 57:05 mark in the second, when senior Brittany Chase (Victoria, Minn.) found sophomore Molly Johnston (Mendota Heights, Minn.), who scored her first goal of the season, to give Gustavus a 2-0 lead. Hannah Sturtz (So., Plymouth, Minn.) put the icing on the cake when she booted an unassisted goal with 13:07 remaining to give the Gusties a team hat trick.
Gustavus nearly quadrupled Bethel’s shot count, as it had 23 shots compared to the Royals’ six. Ashley Becker (Fy., Farmington, Minn.) had four saves for the Gusties to move her season record to 9-4-1 after playing the entire 90 minutes between the posts.
“Ashley is confident back there,” said Burnett-Kurie of her rookie keeper. “That confidence along with the fact our players have a lot of confidence in her allows us to push our numbers forward, keep possession, and have a lot of movement off the ball to commit our outside backs to the attack.”
Gustavus returns to the field on Wednesday for a non-conference tilt with the University of Wisconsin-Stout. That game begins at 4 p.m. on the Gustie Soccer Field. The Gusties return to MIAC play when they take on St. Catherine University next Saturday at 1 p.m., also on the Gustie Soccer Field.
“We were near the bottom of the conference last year, but close in every game, so we understand how competitive the MIAC is and that we need to keep our focus,” said Burnett-Kurie. “Having this understanding helps us take every game seriously and it is this mentality that will be crucial to finishing the season strong. We still have four very tough games left, and each one will be a battle. It is going to come down to improving every day, focusing on our style of play, and remaining confident.”