Teddy Kaste-
Gustavus Men’s Soccer added another win to their record in a nailbiter against Number 18 ranked Macalester. The game was scoreless for most of the time and looked certain to be a 0-0 draw until the 88:49 mark of the game when 5th-year Otis Anderson rifled a shot at the Macalester Goaltender, which was deflected to Senior Owen Johnson who scored the brilliant late game goal with only one minute left. This buzzer-beater pushed the Gusties over the top to secure the victory in a contest between two nationally ranked powerhouses.
Although the game was scoreless across much of the contest, it was not for a lack of chances on either side. The first shot on net came early at 7:19 when 5th-year Raphael Cattelin fired the first shot of the game which was saved by the Macalester Keeper; three minutes later Macalester answered with a shot of their own at 10:42 which was saved by standout 5th-year Goalkeeper Wesley Sanders.
Anderson then tried his luck three minutes later at 13:48 on another great chance for Gustavus, but yet again the attempt was thwarted by the Macalester keeper. The Gusties were pushing the pace on offense, but at 27:21 they were pushed back themselves when Macalester fired a shot at Sanders, and in typical Sanders-style he turned that shot away, and another at 27:51, great plays in net from Sanders have been crucial to the great success of Gustavus in the last couple of years, and he continues to put on excellent performances game in and game out.
Ethan Glissendorf of Gustavus put one more shot on the net before half which was again saved by the keeper bringing us to half-time at 0-0. The second half started with more of the same back-and-forth action highlighted by two big saves from Sanders at 58:16 and 60:06. The rest of the second-half consisted of many substitutions, and two high-level soccer teams battling trying to find any way to get an edge over one another.
The match looked destined to end in a 0-0 draw until Gustavus got on the attack in the 88th minute of the contest when Anderson sent the ball to Cattelin, who sent the cross back to Anderson, who rifled a great shot at the Macalester Goalie. The shot was saved, but Johnson sent the deflection into the back of the net to break the tie, beat the buzzer, and became the hero of the match.
“I knew we were starting to run out of time, but at the moment I was just playing my game. When Otis was able to find me in a pocket of space, I knew something was going to happen. I knew I was going to beat my defender and I knew the type of ball I wanted to play into the box, so when I saw that Otis continued his run into the penalty area, I knew we were going to score on the play. The Keeper ended up making a great save, but luckily Owen was in the right place at the right time and kept his composure to help lead us to victory,” Cattelin, who had a great game, said on the cross that helped set up the game-winner, pushing the attack throughout.
“Everyone stepped up and worked and fought for each other. It was the type of performance we needed, a dog fight. When we all work for each other and fight for each other for all 90 minutes, I like our odds against anyone,” Cattelin also commented.
“It meant a lot to score the game-winner on Saturday, and I’m really glad I was able to help the team win such an important game. It definitely ranks high in the goals I have scored in my career, mostly because of how much the win meant to our guys,” commented Johnson on the moment, the man who scored that great goal.
Gustavus locked up a massive win against Macalester which was crucial. The men have high hopes for going back to the NCAA tournament this year and hopefully, this time capturing the title.