ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – No. 8 Gustavus men’s soccer continued its unbeaten streak Saturday at Bethel with a 4-0 victory. The Gusties, now 11-0-4 overall and 7-0-1 in the MIAC, have tied the second longest streak without a loss in program history, matching a streak of 15 games in 2003. The longest unbeaten streak dates back to start of the program when the Gusties went 25-0-1 from 1968-70, not losing a game until the NAIA regionals in 1970.
Owen Johnson (Jr., Apple Valley) gave the Gusties an early 1-0 lead in the ninth minute with his team-leading seventh goal of the season. The score remained 1-0 at half.
Johnson continued to put on the offensive pressure in the second half as he connected with Clarence Weah (So., Minnetonka) in the 58th minute for his team-leading sixth assist of the year. The goal was Weah’s first of the season.
Nate Rouaud (Sr., Vail, Colo.) extended the lead to 3-0 in the 71st minute with the help of Rivaldo Pena (Fy., Rochester) and Carlos Robles (So., Minneapolis). Less than three minutes later, Parker Flynn (Fy., Houston, Texas) scored his first career goal, unassisted.
Wesley Sanders (Sr., Urbandale, Iowa) made five saves in goal for his eighth clean sheet of the season. The Gusties outshot the Royals 12-9 while both teams had four corner kicks.
“Bethel was probably better than us in the first half. And I’m not surprised,” Head Coach Tudor Flintham said. “They are a strong team and Jeremy has done a great job with them. Their system, personnel, and game plan are really cohesive and we were probably lucky not to concede in the first half. But our guys again reacted really well at halftime. We made a few tactical tweaks but honestly the big difference was that our guys built their game around the basics and decided to just work harder. That was the secret sauce in the end, play simpler, team first, work hard for the guy next to you. It’s a great result and any day you get three MIAC points is something we’ll celebrate.”
Gustavus hosts Hamline at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday for its final home game of the regular season.