Friday, August 30, 2013

Gusties Fall in Home Opener

UW Eau Claire Scores Late, Tacks on Two More

The Gusties fell at home today 3-0 to UW Eau Claire.  The ladies in gold were able to hold their opponents off for a solid 73 minutes with the backline of Seniors Ana Gleason, Estee Berg, Leah Brossoit and Junior Karlye Smith playing strong, backed up by Junior Goalkeeper Caroline Olson.   Once UW Eau Claire broke through, they never looked back, mounting a few more powerful attacks that resulted in two more goals.

With a core group of returners the Gusties looked strong despite the score.  There were some creative and powerful attacks, with much of the early second half being played in  Eau Claire's end of the field.  Last season's leading scorer Senior Amanda Cartony anchored the midfield alongside Seniors Liz Underwood, Emily Papagaptios and Junior Heather Goff.  Newcomers Coursey Edwards and Moni Pelkey added some new dynamics to the game that bring a new element to the look of the Gustie midfield this season!

Senior Defender Leah Brossoit chases down a ball.  GK Caroline Olson
directs movement in the background.

Up top Sophomores Brittany Chase and Anna Basil played well with a year of college soccer under their belts, they're starting to come together and help to generate a powerful attack.  Freshman Jana Elliot and Maddison Ackiss saw some solid time up top and were able to spark some creative attacks.

After a tough loss, the Gusties look to focus and regroup to take on Stout on Monday, with kickoff at 12:00 PM.

Women’s Soccer Drops Season Opener 3-0 To UW-Eau Claire

Posted on August 30th, 2013 by 

First-year Jana Elliott (Eagan, Minn.) makes a move in her collegiate debut.
First-year Jana Elliott (Eagan, Minn.) makes a move in her collegiate debut.
St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s soccer team opened its 2013 season with a 3-0 loss to UW-Eau Claire on Friday afternoon at the Gustie Soccer Field.  After holding the Blugolds scoreless in the first half, the Gusties could not keep UW-Eau Claire off the scoreboard in the second 45 minutes, giving up three goals in a 10 minute span to suffer the 3-0 loss.  Gustavus begins the season 0-1-0 while UW-Eau Claire kicks off the year 1-0-0.
“To start the game I think we had to get some nerves out of the way,” mentioned head coach Laura Burnett-Kurie following the loss.  “Once we worked through that, we started to build some momentum going into the end of the half.  We started to get some shots on net and forced their keeper to come up with a big save, which was a positive sign.”
Following a scoreless first half that saw the Blugolds out to a slight advantage in shots (9-5), UW-Eau Claire came back to score three goals in the second half, the first of which came in the 74th minute.  Paige LeGate sent a cross in front of the net that found the foot of Teighlor Tvedt, who put the ball away to give the Blugolds the 1-0 lead.
“Their first goal went against the momentum that we had started to build, so it was tough to recover after that,” stated Burnett-Kurie of the first Blugold goal.
Moments later, Caroline Henderson took a pass over the top of the Gustie defense at midfield and raced to the top of the box where she ripped a shot past the outstretched arms of Gustavus goalkeeper Caroline Olson (Jr., York, Pa.) to put the Blugolds on top 2-0.
UW-Eau Claire’s third goal came on a corner kick in the 84th minute.  Tara Dennehy sent the corner into the box where it found the head of Kara Ryan at the back post.  Ryan put it away to give the Blugolds a comfortable 3-0 lead.
From there the two teams played to a draw for the remaining six minutes and change, as UW-Eau Claire walked away with the victory.
The Gusties will next host UW-Stout on Monday, Sept. 1st in St. Peter.  That match is set for a 12:00 p.m. kick off.

Courtesy of Gustavus Sports Information

Friday, August 23, 2013

Back At It!

Preseason 2013: The First Week


Today marks exactly one week since the Gustie Women's Soccer team arrived back on campus to begin training for their 2013 fall season!  Eager and ready to get started and get back on the field, the Gusties hit the ground running this week and have been kicking butt in preseason training.  So far it's been a lot of soccer, a lot of sweating, and a lot of fun!

Our Senior AT Naga shows he's even down for a ball roll!

Saturday, August 17th kicked off the practices with fitness testing sessions and everyone's favorite: a full field scrimmage in the evening.  Practices continued through the last week, mixing in recovery swims and ice baths in the afternoons, the freshman have gotten to strut their stuff, while the returners push them to new heights.  We even managed to get a team cookout in last night!


As you can expect from Gustie Soccer-we know how to have a good time-while we work our tails off.  Everything Gustie Soccer does, we do it with SWAG!


Here are a few more pictures and videos to show you the lighter side of preseason training:

Freshman Jana Elliot tests out her ball rolling skills!


Freshman Kendyl Landeck gets after the ropes!
We've also switched up a lot of our weight training to ropes, slosh-pipes and other non-conventional training to keep the girls in better shape and on their toes!  Check it out!
Senior Emily Papagapitos hits the ropes hard.


Another way to use the ropes...

Weight training in the blue while the weight room is redone
Slosh-pipes are fun!
Seniors man the grill for the cookout at Seven Mile Creek in Mankato - the burgers tasted great!