COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s soccer team took a 3-2 loss in a nail biter at St. Ben’s on Sunday. The Gusties move to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Both teams entered into the match-up pulling out every defensive play in the book. The Gusties outperformed the Bennies in saves 4-3 before finishing the first period scoreless and going into what would be an intense second half.
Kenna West (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) got on the board three minutes into the second frame with the assist credited to Page Cocchiarella (Sr., Owatonna). After holding the lead for 30 minutes of play, the Bennies retaliated to tie it up.
The game remained tied despite scoring opportunities for both sides until the last minute of regulation when St. Ben’s made a penalty kick in what looked to be a game winner.
However, the Gusties proved that they were not a team to turn away from the battle despite what time was left on the clock. Just ten seconds after, Cocchiarella found Lauren Johnson (Sr., Woodbury) for a highlight reel worthy goal to force the game into overtime.
Both Gustavus and St. Ben’s battled hard to force it into a second overtime before the Bennies notched the game winner. Despite the final score, the Gusties had an impressive day of performances.
“The end result was tough, but the fact St. Ben’s went up 2-1 on a penalty kick with 50 seconds left and we immediately tied it up off the kick off shows the heart and resilience of this team. There are few other teams that have the ability to focus on the next play like we do. ”
Abby Goodno (Jr., Little Canada) played 105:52 minutes with 10 saves.
“Every time we step on the field it’s a collective effort and that shows in the quality of play we are exhibiting. Tough loss, but we are proud of how we played and we continue to be grateful for the opportunity to compete. We look forward to back to back games at home before finishing off the season at St. Mary’s.”