MOORHEAD, Minn. – Gabriela Rodriguez’ (Fy., Waseca) goal with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation turned out to be the game-winner as the Gustavus women’s soccer team topped Concordia 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Gusties snap a four-game losing skid, improving to 5-7 overall and 2-4 in the MIAC, while the Cobbers drop to 3-9 overall and 0-6 in the league.
Page Cocchiarella (Sr., Owatonna) gave the Gusties an early 1-0 lead just 4:05 into the contest. Katie Ashpole (Sr., Chaska) was credited with the assist. The Cobbers responded in the 33rd minute with a goal and the score remained knotted 1-1 at halftime.
At the 80:35 mark, Lillian Selberg (Fy., Minneapolis) set up the game-winner for Rodriguez as she scored her first career goal.
Concordia outshot the Gusties 11-9 as Abby Goodno (Sr., Little Canada) earned the win in goal after making two saves.
“We are super proud of the team today,” Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie said. “Concordia is a hard place to play and we gritted out the result. We didn’t play our best game, but the fight and heart the team showed to grind out the win is awesome for us moving forward. It was great to see us get on the scoreboard early in the game — the goal coming from something we’ve committed ourselves to getting better at. And then to pull out the huge go-ahead goal in the final ten minutes speaks volumes to the tenacity and persistence of this team. It was a prime time for Gabby to score her first collegiate goal. We are ready to continue to build our confidence and finish the latter half of the regular season strong. Today was day one in this chapter.”
Gustavus next hosts Augsburg at 4 p.m. Tuesday.