SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday to Central 4-3. With the loss the Gusties fall to 4-1, while the Dutch move to 7-0.
Central got the scoring started early when they controlled a deflected shot and fired one into the top left corner of the net to go up 1-0. At the 18-minute mark the Dutch struck again when they took a shot from out front that was deflected into the right side of the goal to go up 2-0.
The Gusties were able to score at the 33-minute mark after the Central goalkeeper saved a penalty shot but was called for jumping too early, awarding Gustavus another penalty shot, that Raphael Cattelin (Fy., Edina) put in to bring the score to 2-1.
In the second half Central struck first again after a free kick got past a few Gusties and a lone Dutch player was waiting on the back side of the scrum and punched it in for a 3-1 lead. Cattelin was able to score his second goal of the contest with just over 15 minutes to play on a cross from Cole Schwartz (So., Jakarta, Indonesia that he punched over the Dutch goalie to trim the Central lead to 3-2.
The Dutch would answer, as they got a through ball to a wide open player who had space and was able to make a move and score to put Central back up two at the 79-minute mark. With less than 30 seconds to play, the Gusties would get a goal from Matt Gibbons (Jr., Minneapolis) assisted by Cattelin, but the Dutch would run out the clock for the win.
Gustavus outshot central in the contest 17-9. Wesley Sanders (Fy., Urbandale, Iowa) took the loss in net to move to 4-1-0 on the season.
The Gusties will next be in action on Wednesday when they travel to St. Thomas for a 3:30 match.