UW-River Falls Falcons:   1-0

It was a tough loss in River Falls, as the girls fell 1-0 to a very competitive UW River Falls side.  It was an exciting night, however, as we were playing the first ever soccer game out on their new turf field, and were even graced with a visit from River Falls’ first ever live mascot, as their Falcon was ushered onto the field for the playing of the national anthem. 

It was a fast paced game however, against a very athletic River Falls team. The girls did fantastic to match their speed and intensity though, as the Gusties did very well to be pushing up the field time after time into dangerous areas. We really began to work the ball off of our forwards’ feet very well, which was great to see and it help contribute to being able to build up very dangerous attacks which we unfortunately struggled to capitalize on.

Defensively, the girls did great to control the Falcons attackers and limit them to options from out wide and really kept them from being able to work with the ball inside or around the 18 yard box. The high pressure within our defensive third really helped prevent the Falcons from producing much without having a defender stepping early to them, despite one scramble inside the box after a few unfortunate bounces that lead to the ball popping out right to a River Falls player’s foot in front of our net.

We were happy with the girls’ work rate this game and their desire to really work the ball around. They were moving the ball up and back through our forwards, and looking to change our point of attack frequently. While tiny details kept us from completing our attacks, the girls are really beginning to build up some very dangerous attacks and we’re looking forward to our match now on Saturday against St. Thomas, which is sure to be another very back and fourth battle.

Women’s Soccer defeated by UW-River Falls 1-0

Posted on October 8th, 2014 by Nick Hoelmer

Caroline Olson allowed one goal and made seven saves on Wednesday against UW-River Falls

River Falls, Wis. – After falling to St. Olaf College 1-0 this past Saturday, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team was defeated by an identical 1-0 score on Wednesday evening, this time to UW-River Falls in a match at Ramer Field. With the loss, the Gusties fall to 1-7-3 overall, while the Falcons move to 7-3-2.

“Our women did a fabulous job pushing up the field into dangerous areas,” said head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “We just struggled to make that final move in front of the net to put a goal away.”

UW-River Falls came out firing and outshot Gustavus 9-3 in the first half. However, the Gustie defense kept the Falcons out of the goal for the first 45 minutes and beyond. But the Falcon’s Nina Abrahamson found the goal at the 47:53 mark on an assist from Abby Soderholm and Alex Swatloski. The goal was Abrahamson’s third goal of the season and proved to be enough to clinch the victory for the home team. While there was no more scoring, UW-River Falls dominated the remainder of the half, outshooting Gustavus 14-2 in the second half and bringing the total to 23-5 on the match.

“They were a very athletic team that was able to move the ball well through the midfield,” said Burnett-Kurie. “Our women did a great job tonight of containing their attackers and preventing them from exploiting the area within our 18-yard box.”

Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Penn.) took another tough loss in goal for the Gusties. Olson allowed just one goal for the third match this season, but was again unable to come away with a victory in one of those matches and saw her record drop to 1-6-3. Olson also had seven saves on the evening.

Gustavus will look to get back on track when they travel to St. Paul to take on the University of St. Thomas (5-5-1, 4-2-0 MIAC) on Saturday in a 1 p.m. match.