Gusties to finish season with five of final six games against MIAC opponents
With two big wins now behind them, the Gustavus Women’s Soccer team aims to hit its goals for the remainder of the season. The season started out with a win over the University of Minnesota-Morris and then a loss to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Beating Morris 3-0, they then fell 3-1 against Stevens Point and followed it up with two ties against Luther and Concordia.
“All of the girls really feel confident in each other,” said Senior Christy Tupy. “We’re frustrated with our key losses, but we didn’t lose by more than one goal, and we outplayed those teams for the most part. We fully expect to win the rest of our games this season.”
Tupy, Junior Chelsea Craven, and Senior Ashley Voigtlander scored the three goals on Morris, and the team out-shot the Cougars 12-2. Sophomore Ashley Anderson scored the team’s only goal against UW-SP while Senior Ashley Ohlson had her first shutout of the season against Luther, blocking nine attempts. In their first home match and first MIAC game, the Gusties tied Concordia 1-1 in double overtime. Craven scored the only goal for Gustavus early on in game play, while Ohlson blocked six attempts.
Following the ties were three tough losses for the Gusties. Simpson, UW-LaCrosse and St. Ben’s all pulled out wins against Gustavus. However, following the rough patch, they defeated Saint Mary’s University 3-0.
A close loss to Carleton, 1-0, got the Gusties fired up to win their next two matches. UW-Stout lost 2-0 and Hamline, 1-0. Against Stout, Anderson and Senior Callie Christensen scored the two goals, and was Christensen’s first of the season. The streak continued with a homecoming game victory in which Sophomore Mackenzie Del Santro scored the only goal of the game with only two minutes and forty-five seconds remaining. This goal was Del Santro’s first of the season.
On Oct. 7, the women lost to Augsburg College, bringing their record to 4-5-2 overall. Against Augsburg, Christensen scored the first goal of the game on a corner kick. In the second half, however, the Augies took over to score two goals and remained untouchable for the remainder of the game.
“The upcoming MIAC games matter more but every game is a big one. We need to pull everything together and get wins,” said co-captain Voigtlander. “We need to continue to work hard at practice and take every game seriously. The play-offs are still optimal and anything could happen.”
The Gusties only have six games remaining, of which five are MIAC games. Gustavus will host the Bethel Royals Oct. 11 at 11:00 a.m. “We’ve got to pull it all together. I can’t overemphasize the improvement that I’ve seen from day one to now. It’s like comparing night and day. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, but now we should win some games” said Head Coach Mike Stehlik. “There’s not much more for us to add. We hope to do what we do best and have it carry over into games. We have the players; it’s down to who’s going to run the gauntlet and carry the torch.”