Saint Benedict: 3-0

It was a hard fought battle this weekend as the girls lost 3-0 to Saint Benedict out at the Johnnies training grounds.  The game began at a very fast tempo, as the girls were able to threaten the Blazers back line numerous times in the first half, creating a handful of chances in the 18 yard box which unfortunately, couldn’t find the back of the net. The girls did great to hold a high pressure throughout the field, conceding the first two goals only on corner kicks.

Going in to the match, the Gusties lineup was without senior captain, Karlye Smith, as our lone returning defender in the back line, but freshman Jenna Kivley stepped up to the occasion for her first start of the year.  The back four did fantastic to step up and avoid many dangerous attacks by the Blazers’ talented strikers, but eventually it came down to set pieces, which we knew would be difficult to defend from the MIAC leading Blazers.

Injuries struck again during the game, as our second center defender for the week fell to the ground in a difficult tackle, forcing freshman Emily Odermatt to leave the pitch as her teammate Josie Mazzonne had to shift over into her place.  We  were impressed with their ability to adapt to the game and their new roles as our back line seemed to be ever-changing in the second half, but the girls held strong as they battled for all 90 minutes.

As the girls recover, we anxiously look forward to our next match, coming up Wednesday, October 1, against Saint Mary’s University on the road in Winona, MN at 7pm.

Women’s Soccer Falls To Saint Benedict 3-0

Posted on September 27th, 2014 by Nick Hoelmer

First-Year Emily Odermatt tied for the team lead in shots taken on Saturday Afternoon

Collegeville, Minn. – After notching its first victory of the season this past Tuesday against Crown College, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team could not keep the momentum flowing on Saturday afternoon in a MIAC matchup with the College of Saint Benedict. The Gusties fell 3-0 to the MIAC-leading Blazers to bring their record to 1-5-2 (0-2-1 MIAC), while Saint Benedict moves to 8-1-1 (3-0-0 MIAC).

“We came out strong from the start and created several dangerous opportunities from the get-go,” said head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “If we had been able to put one of those away it would have changed the dynamic of the game.”

Saint Benedict outshot Gustavus 9-1 in the opening 30 minutes and the Blazer’s 10th shot by Taylor Hedin from Gracie Vaughan went past Gustie goalkeeper Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Penn.) to put the Blazers up 1-0 at the 30:18 mark. Saint Ben’s scored its next goal exactly 30 minutes later on a Jenna Kleason header from Mariah Williams.

“Eventually it came down to set pieces, which going into the game we know they were strong on,” said Burnett-Kurie. “That proved true as their first two goals were off corners. For the first 60 minutes, we played hard and battled which is promising against a top team in, not only the conference, but the region.”

The Blazers scored their final goal less than 30 seconds after their third goal on an unassisted goal by Vaughan. Vaughan’s goal and assist on the day put her at 10 total points on the season.

Saint Benedict outshot Gustavus 26-8 on the day and it also held the advantage on corner kicks 4-2.

Blazer keepers Megan Favorite and Heather Kaluzniak split time between the posts, marking the sixth time this season the two keepers have split halves to combine for a clean sheet. Olson took the loss for the Gusties after allowing three goals and making six saves.

“It was quite promising to see players step up and work hard to make a difference and positively impact the game,” said Burnett-Kurie. “We are goiong to carry those positives into Wednesday’s matchup and we are excited for another tough conference match.”

The Gusties will travel to Winona, Minnesota on Wednesday evening to take on Saint Mary’s University under the lights. That match will begin at 7 p.m.

3rd Annual YUWA Charity Game

Gustavus Soccer Team sporting their hand-made bracelets from India

We are happy to announce the Gustavus Adolphus Women's Soccer Program will be hosting its THIRD Annual "Kicking for a Cause"  game on Saturday, October 4th in conjunction with the team's conference match-up against St. Olaf at 1:00pm on the Gustie Soccer Field.  The "Kicking for a Cause" game supports Yuwa, a Minnesota based non-profit organization that uses team sport to empower young women in rural India.  We hope you will make it out to support our team and this wonderful charity!!

Upon entry, fans will have the opportunity to make a "suggested entry donation," along with purchase raffle tickets for a signed practice jersey to be raffled off at the end of regulation.  The Gusties will also welcome the local youth players from the St. Peter Soccer Club, as ball-girls and for an mini-game during halftime at the Gustie Soccer Field.  After the game, from 3:30pm-5:00pm, there will be a gathering down at Lone Star BBQ with a silent auction and specials.  All proceeds will benefit Yuwa.  

We would love for you to attend the game and support Yuwa.  We would appreciate it if you could please spread this along to any of your friends, family and current players.  We hope to see you on Saturday!

More information on Yuwa see below or check out: yuwa-india.org

 "Yuwa brings girls out of isolation and into a positive team environment. Daily practice and a team platform give us access to large numbers of at-risk girls, and a girl with confidence can rewrite the script others have prepared for her." Yuwa is fighting to make a difference by breaking the negative cycle that has been created for the young women of India.  "When a girl organizes or joins a Yuwa team, through positive peer pressure she becomes a more regular student—players elect team captains, who keep track of school attendance, and many girls attend daily study sessions at Yuwa Club. She pays attention to her own health and to the health of her teammates, and gets access to information about her body through weekly adolescent health classes with her teammates. She marries when she chooses—on Yuwa's first team, not a single girl has gotten married below the age of 18, even though several of their older sisters had been married off at age 15. She will raise a healthy family. The cycle continues."

COME SUPPORT YOUR GUSTIES AND YUWA!!

6-0 Victory against Crown College

It was a great night, claiming our first win of the season against Crown College with a thrilling 6-0 scoreline.   The girls came out a little slow, but once they found their footing and began to work the ball around a bit, really began threatening the back line of Crown College with excellent runs up the sidelines by our midfielders to threaten the space all around our attacking third.

Opening the score sheet for the Gusties was freshman, Molly Johnston, with an aggressive run through the box to clean up a deflection off of a Maddisson Ackiss shot on goal.

It was great to see players pressing into attacking areas from all areas of the field, being a threat at any moment in the game.  Our two outside backs had phenomenal work rates to push up the field, getting around our midfielders and strikers into area up the field to send in crosses left and right across the box, creating many of our chances in the second half!

Maddisson had another stunning night on the field, recording a whopping three goals on the night.  Her first coming off of an eagle eye pass from freshman Hannah Sturtz, which she calmly placed perfectly into the top corner of the goal on her first touch. Her second goal came from an absolutely stunning free kick, curling it around a Crown College wall right into the top corner of the goal past the keeper. Her third goal, sealing the hat trick for the night, came off of a seemingly impossible pass that came in off a first touch pass from senior Heather Geoff, threading the needle through the Crown defense to send Maddi in 1v1 with the keeper.

Also, recording her first goal of the season, was freshman, Sophie Leininger.  After being rewarded a penalty kick early in the second half, Sophie confidently stepped up to the penalty mark; was cooler than the other side of the pillow as the placed her kick directly into the bottom corner of the net.

The coaching staff was unbelievably impressed with our substitutes coming in off of the bench and stepping up to have huge impacts on the game.  Hannah Sturtz was able to cause complete mayhem in our attacking third, creating space for players to work and open up great shots on goal. Senior Valerie Belanger came in and had astounding runs up the side of the field, consistently whipping in dangerous balls across the Crown goal, nearly creating numerous goals for our players rushing in through the box behind the opposing back line.

It was an incredibly exciting match to watch, as the girls are beginning to step into a rhythm with one another and knocking the ball around very well amongst each other. We’re hoping to feed off of this attacking-minded momentum as we step back into conference play this Saturday, as the girls head to St. Joseph to face up against the College of Saint Benedict, kicking off at 1pm.

Women’s Soccer Posts First Win In 6-0 Victory Over Crown

Posted on September 23rd, 2014 by Nick Hoelmer

Maddisson Ackiss completed a hat-trick to help secure the Gustie's first victory of the season.

St. Bonifacius, Minn. – After spending its first six matches searching for a victory, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team found it in a big way in its seventh match. The Gusties defeated Crown College 6-0 in a non-conference matchup  on Tuesday evening at KleinBank Stadium to bump their record to 1-4-2 (0-2-0 MIAC) on the season and give themselves a shot of confidence heading into their third MIAC match on Saturday against the College of Saint Benedict.

“This was an exciting game that featured a lot of attacking opportunities and high pressure up top,” said head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “It’s great to get the first win of the year. We broke the ice and hopefully they will keep coming.”

The Gusties were on the board less than ten minutes into the game when first-year midfielder Molly Johnston (Mendota Heights, Minn.) finished off a deflection off of Storm goalkeeper Hillary Brondsema at the 7:40 mark. The goal was the first of the season scored by a Gustie not named Maddison Ackiss and also came with the Gustie’s first assist on the season, which went to Ackiss.

No more scoring occurred until late in the first half when Ackiss found the net for what would be her first of three goals on the evening off an assist from first-year forward Hannah Sturtz (Plymouth, Minn.). A minute into the second half, Gustavus earned its third goal of the evening when a Crown blunder resulted in an own-goal. Ten minutes later, Ackiss found the net for a second time off a 25 yard free kick and six minutes after that, Sophie Leininger (Fy., Plymouth, Minn.) made it a 5-0 Gustie lead by taking advantage of a penalty kick. Ackiss then put the icing on the cake when she completed a hat-trick at the 69:48 mark for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.

The Gusties shattered their season high of 13 shots by shooting a whopping 38 on Tuesday compared to Crown’s four. “We had a lot of good movement off the ball,” said Burnett-Kurie. “It was great to see, for the second game in a row, the depth of our bench and it was also cool to see a couple of our first-years get their first collegiate goals.”

Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Penn.) enjoyed a quiet night between the posts by making one save in all ninety minutes to pick up her first victory of the season.

The Gusties will now look for their first MIAC win this Saturday when they take on Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. That match is slated for a 1 p.m. start time.

Concordia Moorhead:  4-1

Saturday’s match was a tough one as the girls fell 4-1 to a strong Concordia College squad.  It took a while for the girls to really get going, but by the second half, the coaching staff was very pleased with some of the play by the girls, especially on the part of the substitutes that stepped onto the field.

Once we’d been able to start establishing a rhythm in the second half with our passing and possession in the attacking third, our forward movement really began to open the play up, as the constant movement by freshman, Hannah Sturtz, always looking to get in behind the defense managed to open up fields of space for the Gusties to work with in our attacking third. This helped lead to the Gusties’ lone goal of the match, coming from Maddisson Ackiss, her 3^rd of the season, with a stunning strike from 30 yards out that soared over the Cobber goalkeeper in the 73^rd minute of play.

This seemed to open up a late game surge of energy from the Gusties, coming up with numerous opportunities around the net, including a meticulously placed shot by freshman Sophie Leininger, forcing a highlight save by the Cobber goalkeeper.

Concordia was a very strong side, proving their placement in the nation’s top 25 at the moment, but the girl’s showed their worth with their ability to hang with them. Besides a few very short moments of mental breakdowns, it was a very exciting game to watch, with the Gusties on top for stretches of the game. They’ve proven they can compete with top teams in the MIAC, and have got us all very anxious for our next match coming up Tuesday, September  23^rd, against Crown College at 7pm in St. Bonifacius, MN.

More to come…

Carleton College: 1-1

We opened up conference play this Wednesday against Carleton College in a thrilling 1-1 matchup. The girls were at it right from the get-go with Maddison Ackiss scoring the opening goal in the 6^th minute of play off of a great slotted pass from Junior Brittany Chase in behind the defense, calmly putting the opportunity away with a shot to the far corner bouncing off of the post into the net.

Once play opened up a bit, the girls began doing a great job pushing up the field from all positions, with our outside backs pushing up with midfielders as well as center back Emily Odermatt even posting her first shot on goal of the year!

Going into the second half, the girls were hungry for a second goal and showed it by getting in behind the defense numerous times, threatening the Carleton net time after time. Maddi nearly scored what would’ve been her third goal on the year off another ball in behind the defense, striking an absolute stunner that unfortunately bounced off the post in the upper corner of the net and we couldn’t manage to get onto the rebound. Other players too, were also pushing into the attack, as Britt nearly posted her first goal of the year on a great shot from the 18 that was narrowly tipped by the Carleton keeper and rebounded back off of the crossbar.

Our substitutes were also able to bring fresh legs onto the field in the second half, proving dangerous as well, with Jana Elliott connecting excellently with a volley, forcing the Carleton keeper to make a seemingly impossible save to keep her side in the game.

After 89 minutes of battling on the field, Carleton surged up the field with numbers and squeezed in a ball across the goal line which unfortunately found the back of the net, pushing the game into overtime.

After the overtime, the game ended 1-1, but hats off to the girls for a tremendous game and digging deep to find the legs to continue what was a very high energy game through the overtime periods. Girls were stepping up in every position on the field making big plays to keep us in the game, including Emily with a split second reaction header to prevent a Carleton goal in the first overtime period.

It a truly fantastic showing by the girls against a strong Carleton side, and still showing immense improvements from game to game. We’re now very much looking forward to our next match, coming up Saturday, September 20^th against Concordia College.

Women’s Soccer Plays Carleton To 1-1 Tie In First MIAC Contest

Posted on September 17th, 2014 by Nick Hoelmer

Gustavus keeper Caroline Olson allowed one goal and saved nine en route to a 1-1 tie with Carleton on Wednesday afternoon.

Northfield, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team opened its MIAC schedule with a 1-1 tie after two overtime periods in a match with Carleton College on Wednesday afternoon at Bell Field. With the tie, Gustavus moves to 0-3-2 overall and 0-0-1 in MIAC play. Carleton moves to 3-1-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the MIAC.

“It was a hard fought battle from both sides today,” said Gustavus senior defenderKarlye Smith (Eau Claire, Wis.). “We were persistent with our attacks and held them well on defense. The result isn’t what we would’ve liked, but we are proud for what we did today.”

Maddison Ackiss (So., Fairbanks, Alaska) got the ball rolling for the Gusties almost immediately when she was able to control a deflection off of Carleton goalkeeper Mikayla Coulombe and put it through at the 5:15 mark. Ackiss has scored each goal for Gustavus this season.

The match continued with strong defense from both sides and with one minute to play, it looked as though Gustavus would wrap up it’s first victory of the season. However, Carleton senior forward Ellie Wilson was able to catch a cross from teammate Bailey Ulbricht with less than 30 seconds remaining to score and tie the match at one-apiece. Overtime ensued, but neither team could find the net.

“After Carleton’s goal at the end of the match, we fought hard until the end of second overtime,” said Smith. “We never gave up and kept believing and that attitude is what is going to make us better as the season unfolds.”

Gustavus keeper Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Penn.) moves to 0-2-2 after allowing just the one goal and bringing in nine saves on the day.

The Gusties will be back in action on Saturday when Concordia College (5-1-0, 1-0-0 MIAC) will be in St. Peter for a 1 p.m. match at the Gustie Soccer Field.