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Men's soccer celebrates homecoming with impressive win

Charlie Braman
September 29, 2003

The St. Olaf men's soccer team had not played a home game since August 29th when the faced Luther. The Oles responded to a large and enthusiastic crowd by notching a convincing win over St. Thomas, 3-1.

After a back and forth first half of soccer, the Oles gave the fans something to get excited about with a buzzer-beating goal by Faiz Abdirahman (So., Rochester, Minn.). With 3 seconds remaining in the half the ball was crossed from the left flank to Abdirahman, who was waiting to finish the goal with his head with just under a second remaining in the half. The Oles carried the momentum, and a 1-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, St. Thomas tied the score at 1-1 when Matt Raplinger moved up from the sweeper position to notch the equalizer. As the half progressed, persistent defense by the Oles and St. Thomas playing one player short, was too much for the Tommies to overcome. In the 69th minute, Abdirahman finished his second goal of the game and demonstrated breakaway speed while capitalizing on a brilliant through ball from sweeper Andy Gastineau (FY, Rochester, Minn.). Just minutes later Mustafa Dualeh (Soph., Rochester, Minn.) beat the St. Thomas goalkeeper to make the score 3-1, which held for the final score.

The Oles are in action next on Tuesday, September 30th when they host Bethel College at 4:00 p.m.

Contact Le Ann Finger at 507-786-3834 or finger@stolaf.edu.