The Gustavus Men’s and Women’s soccer teams were both in action this past weekend as they both had the opportunity to open their seasons at home. The men opened up their season against Knox College where they secured a 1-0 victory while the women defeated UW-Superior 2-1 to also start their season off undefeated.
The Gustavus Men’s team, after one of their most successful seasons in program history, were looking to start the season exactly where they left off and they did just that. With just enough goal production and good defense, the Gusties shut out Knox in a solid win to begin the year.
“I think that, although we got the job done in our first game, we have a lot to improve on. We were a little sloppy on the ball and we didn’t really have a plan when we were in possession. We had plenty of good moments, but there are lots of things to clean up as we move into the rest of the year. That being said, it was the first game of the year and at the end of the day the most important thing is getting a result, which we managed to do,” Senior Owen Johnson said.
In his first collegiate career game, First-year Simon Woods did not take long to make an impact in his Gustavus debut. At the 6:55 mark, taking a long feed from Fifth-years Otis Anderson and Nick Katzman down the middle of the field, Woods beat the Knox keeper for the only goal of the game.
“It was an unreal feeling and a great way to start my college career. The incredible support from my teammates and coaches in that moment really took the feeling of excitement to the next level,” Woods said.
“It has been amazing to see the immediate impact that Simon has made on our team. He looked good all preseason and to see him having success in our first couple [of] games has been awesome. He is a fantastic addition coming out of one of the best recruiting classes we have had in a while, and the group loves what he brings to the table. More than that, Simon is just a great guy and I am so happy for him to have scored his first, of what will eventually be many, goals in his first college appearance,” Johnson said.
The Gusties combined for ten shots on goal on twenty-one total shots in the game. Fifth-year goalie Wesley Sanders saved the one Knox shot that was put on goal to collect the shutout.
“Gustavus men’s soccer has always been filled with talent but this year especially, we had a taste of success last season which only made us hungry to achieve even more. As of now, I feel like our team is extremely strong, and our coaching staff is awesome. If we continue to work hard, stay disciplined, and play with passion we will be unstoppable,” Sophomore Rivaldo Pena said.
Not to be outdone, the Gustavus women helped to cap off a great opening day for Gustavus soccer with their 2-1 win against UW-Superior.
“Today was a great way to start off the season,” Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie said. “We are super happy with our team performance today against an organized Superior side. We moved the ball very well and created quite a few dangerous looks, with their keeper coming up with some big-time saves.”
Junior Gabriela Rodriguez netted the first Gustie goal of the season at the 19:17 mark to put the Gusties up by a score of 1-0 with help from Junior Jordan Oelkers. Gustavus led for the entire first half of the match, outshooting Superior 9-0.
“The whole team worked really hard and had a great preseason so we were looking to bring that energy into the opening games of the regular season. One of our team goals we made this year is to score a goal every game so I was happy to be able to help my team accomplish this goal within the first game of the season and get the results we deserved. Our hope is to continue that drive throughout the whole season,” Rodriguez said.
The second half of the match was back and forth with Superior tying the match at the 74-minute mark, to make the score 1-1. Gustavus did not wait long to take back the lead, scoring less than three minutes later. Fifth-year Annika Lewis buried the game-winning shot past the Superior goalie off a corner kick from Sophomore Payton Mahady to make the score 2-1.
Senior Goalie Claire Hemstock saved the only shot she saw on the day to earn the victory. On the day the Gusties outshot Superior 15-2 for a dominating performance to start their year.
“Scoring the game-winning goal was definitely exciting especially because this win put us on track for a great year. I couldn’t have scored this goal without my teammates, especially not without Payton Mahady’s great corner kick to the perfect spot. It could have been anyone on our team scoring this goal and I would’ve been happy for anyone, that’s how much of a team effort scoring goals are and how united we are as a team. Anyone can step up on a given day and it just happened to be me,” Lewis said.
The Gustavus Men play today, Friday, Sept. 8th, at 7:00 p.m. against Loras and against Dubuque on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with both games taking place at the opposing team’s fields. The Gustavus Women will play Bethany Lutheran on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in Mankato, Minnesota. We wish our fellow Gusties good luck!