ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team traveled to St. Paul to take on Hamline Tuesday and defeated the Pipers 3-1. With the win the Gusties move to 14-3 overall and 8-1 in the MIAC while the Pipers fall to 3-11-1 overall and 1-8 in the conference.
“Hamline is always super hard working and organized with some dangerous attacking pieces and we knew they could cause us problems,” said Head Coach Tudor Flintham. “Coach Al has done a great job there and as expected it was another MIAC battle and hard fought three points. We weren’t as composed or clinical as we would have like but it’s a sht across the bow and hopefully a wake-up call.”
The first half of the contest played even, with neither team scoring and Gustavus outshooting Hamline 8-5. The Gusties had four shots on goal in the first 45 minutes compared to just one from Hamline.
Things picked up in the second half for both teams as Gustavus started the scoring in the 58th minute with a goal from Matt Gibbons (Jr., Minneapolis), assisted by Raphael Cattelin (Fy., Edina, Minn.). The Gusties then extended their lead to 2-0 in the 68th minutes as Luke Laurich (Sr., Batavia, Ill.) notched his second goal of the season, assisted by Max McLaughlin (Fy., Urbandale, Iowa).
The Pipers responded less then four minutes later when they were fouled in the box and knocked in the ensuing penalty kick to cut the Gustavus lead in half. In the 79th minute, Cattelin scored what proved to be the game winner with a shot over the Piper goalie, with McLaughlin picking up his second assist of the contest. Hamline kept fighting, as they scored in the 82nd minute to bring the score back to within one, but the Gusties were able to hold them off late to take the 3-2 victory.
Wesley Sanders (Fy., Urbandale, Iowa) started in net and made two saves in the contests for the win.
“The challenge now is to stay composed,” said Flintham. “We know that if we win Saturday we’ll claim another title, but that can’t be a distraction. We just need to be calm and play our game.”
The Gusties will next be in action Saturday when they close the regular season hosting Macalester in a 1 p.m. contest.