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Mens Soccer Split Last Two Games

Kyle Swanson
October 10, 2001

On Saturday, October 6 the St. Olaf Men?s Soccer Team traveled to St. Peter to take on defending conference champions Gustavus. The Oles entered the contest with 4-4-1 overall record, 2-1-1 in the MIAC. Gustavus entered the match with a 4-1 record in the MIAC. St. Olaf was victorious and moved their record to 5-4-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the MIAC.

The first half saw St. Olaf control the pace of the game maintaining much of the overall possession. However, the Oles were unable to capitalize on any of their scoring chances, which resulted in 0-0 draw at halftime.

In the second half the game became much more physical. Each team collected many fouls, which took away from the flow of the game. The turning point in the match came when Ole goalkeeper, Ross MacMullan (Sr., Birchwood, Minn.), saved a penalty kick awarded to Gustavus. Minutes later the Oles broke into the scoring column when Ben Clymer (Jr., Hudson, Wis.) received a through ball from Trevor Davies (FY, Waukesha, Wis.) and slotted the ball past the Gustavus keeper. Gustavus poured on the pressure for the remaining minutes, but the Oles held on for a 1-0 victory.

The Oles were once again in action two days later on Monday, October 8. They faced non-conference opponent Simpson College from Iowa. In the first twenty- five minutes the Oles looked impressive controlling most of the play and creating many chances. The Oles scored during this time when Chris Gangl (So., Lakeville, Minn.) volleyed a ball past the Simpson keeper off of a Mark Gilmer (So., Bloomington, Minn.) cross following an Ole cornerkick. The Oles went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

In the second half the Oles looked out of sort, and did not possess the ball like they did in the first half. They conceded an early goal in the half, which drew the game even at 1-1. Both teams squandered opportunities to take the lead, and the game was forced to overtime. Three and a half minutes into the overtime, Simpson found themselves victors as the Oles missed a mark and allowed a point blank shot on MacMullan. The Oles found themselves on the wrong side of a 2-1 result.

The loss moved the Oles overall record to 5-5-1. The next action will be at 2:00 PM on Thursday, October 11 when they host non-conference opponent Luther College. The Oles next conference match is at 1:00 PM, Sunday, October 14 when they host St. Thomas University at Rolf Mellby Memorial Field on the campus of St. Olaf College.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.