Cole Frazier-
The Gustavus Men’s Soccer Team achieved an impressive feat in last week’s games. The Gusties beat the University of Wisconsin-Superior 2-1 putting an end to their non-conference record in the regular season to an undefeated 6-0-1. Along with this win against UW-Superior, the Gusties also defeated a tough St. John’s team, 5-0.
Before the game against the Gusties, St. Johns hadn’t lost a game all season by more than one goal. The Johnnies set a difficult problem for the Gusties: although the Gusties have been able to consistently get results, they rarely were able to put away opponents. The Gusties attack shut down this idea. With a 5-0 scoreline, the Gusties were able to earn their largest margin of victory in this game.
The first goal of the game came in the 27th minute from Fifth-year Owen Johnson. The goal was created by a very quick press that caused a poor giveaway from the Johnnie defense. Junior Mason Gilliand played a lopping ball over the top of the Johnnie defense to a darting run made by Sophomore Leo Runestad, who then deceptively cut the ball back to Johnson, who fired it into the net, making the score 1-0.
Surprisingly, the Gusties struggled to maintain the lead with multiple chances being shot at the Gustavus goal with Goalie and Senior Egan Bedwell making a series of important stops. The Gusties’ defensive efforts were able to keep the scoreline 1-0 going into halftime.
After halftime, the Gusties came for blood, quickly generating many scoring opportunities in the Johnnies’ defensive third. The second goal came in the 58th minute from Sophomore Joe Flory. After a combination of Fifth-year Alexander Krumenaur and Johnson, Johnson laid the ball off to a cutting Flory run who took it the first time, calmly slotting it between the goalie’s legs, making the scoreline 2-0.
In the 72nd minute, the Gusties struck again. With his second assist of the game, Runestad slipped a through ball between the Johnnies center backs, allowing for Fifth-year Jared Hecht to get to the end of it. Hecht calmly slotted the ball past the Johnnies goalie, increasing the Gustie lead to 3.
The scoreline of the game was not the only significant achievement for the Gusties in this game; With his assist coming in the second half, Fifth-year Owen Johnson broke the all-time assist record for Gustavus Men’s Soccer with a staggering 43 assists (and counting). We caught up with Johnson after the game to ask how he felt about everything that had gone on in the game. Johnson said, “The St John’s game was definitely our most fun game all season. We were able to press them early on and set a high tempo that they couldn’t keep up with. That press led to my first goal and gave us some confidence going into the second half, where we picked up where we left off. My assist came from a great buildup from the team and a clean finish from Joe Flory. It was a super cool moment and I’m thankful to my teammates because without them I would never have even gotten close to the record!”
It was a game of firsts, as both Fifth-year Nicholas James and Senior Matt Carlson scored their first career goals for the program with the fourth and fifth goals of the game respectively. This was a huge moment for them as well as the team; everyone got to celebrate with them. Carlson talked about how he feels he has fulfilled an important role on the team, he said “After all the hours and hard work I’ve put in for the team the past four years, the goal felt amazing. This year I’m in a leadership role, the strength and conditioning coach, and a role of keeping a strong winning culture. We have a very talented group this year and the only team that can defeat us is ourselves. Although I work to contribute as much as I can on the field, most of my work is off the field.”
Nick James also had a similar sentiment about this game: “The St. John’s game was super fun. It was great to get my first collegiate goal, thanks to David Castillon, and to get a bunch of different guys into the game. The team this year is special, everyone is on the same page and there are good vibes all around.”
The Gusties went on the following week to draw with the current NCAA Championship holders, St. Olaf 3-3. Following this solid result, the Gusties defeated Bethel 1-0 who are third in the MIAC. The Gusties will play their final regular season game on Saturday, November 2nd at St. Scholastica at 3:30 p.m. Their current undefeated record is 13-0-3, which has them ranked #1 in the MIAC and #4 in the country. They hope to continue this undefeated streak into the MIAC and NCAA tournaments.