NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday at St. Olaf by the score of 3-1, dropping to 4-1-1 overall and 1-1-0 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The three goals against also marked the first goals scored against the Gusties all season.
“St. Olaf definitely deserved the win” Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie said. “It was a great learning experience for us. We knew this year was going to be tough and we have to find an edge to our game in order to win. We ended up turning it on and had some moments, but we didn’t have those players step up that need to step up. It’s a great learning opportunity for us to realize that we need those players to step up. One loss isn’t going to break our season, but now we need to see how well we can rebound.”
The Oles wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as they scored the first goal in the eighth minute. Six minutes later the Oles added another goal off a corner kick to take a 2-0 advantage. Another St. Olaf corner kick resulted in the third goal of the game as a header found the back of the net in the 22nd minute.
The Gusties broke the shutout in the 28th minute as Abby Mullenbach (Fy., Lakeville, Minn.) scored her first collegiate goal, assisted by Josie Mazzone (Jr., Rapid City, S.D.). Neither team could find the goal in the second half and the home team walked away with a 3-1 victory.
Ashley Becker (So., Farmington, Minn.) suffered her first loss of the season after making seven saves.
Gustavus continues MIAC play Thursday at UW-Eau Claire.