Men's Soccer 10/18/06 -- Augsburg 2, Bethel 0

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (10/18/06) -- Ryan Kitzman * (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS) had a goal and an assist, and goalkeeper Pascaul Venter (So., Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) collected six saves for his 12th shutout of the season, as Augsburg College claimed a 2-0 win over Bethel University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer contest Wednesday night at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.

With the win, Augsburg (13-1-2 overall, 5-1-2 MIAC) remains in the hunt for a first-ever spot in the four-team MIAC postseason playoffs, with two conference games remaining in the regular season. Augsburg is now in a second-place tie with St. John's (10-3-1 overall, 6-1-0 MIAC), as each team has 12 league points, both two points behind conference-leader Gustavus (12-1-1 overall, 7-1-0 MIAC) with 14 points.

Augsburg will battle Gustavus next Wednesday (10/25) at 7:30 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field.

The top six teams in the MIAC standings are all within six league points of each other after Wednesday's play, with Hamline (10-3-1 overall, 5-2-1 MIAC) and St. Thomas (10-3-2 overall, 5-2-1 MIAC) tied for fourth place with 11 league points, and Macalester (7-5-1 overall, 4-3-0 MIAC) sitting in sixth place with eight league points.

With its 13th win of the season, this year's Auggie squad settled all alone into second place for the most victories in a single season in the 37-year history of the men's soccer program. Augsburg's single-season victory record is 15, set in the team's 1975 MIAC championship season (15-2-1 overall).

Bethel dropped to 3-11-1 overall, 1-7-0 in MIAC play with the loss, and will host Sioux Falls (S.D.) in a nonconference game Friday (10/20) at 4 p.m.

Augsburg jumped on the scoreboard early, with Kitzman's third goal of the season in the eighth minute. Andrew Seidel (So., Woodbury, Minn.) picked off a clearing attempt on the left side of the penalty box, and fed the ball into the box, where Kitzman collected it and put it home.

Augsburg controlled possesion for most of the first half, but held just a 10-9 shots advantage at halftime, though it eventually ran the shots advantage to 20-16 in the game.

The Auggies clinched the win in the 68th minute, as Kelsey Duerr (Fr., Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park HS) received a feed from Kitzman and put the ball in the net from the center of the penalty box for his fourth goal of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Augsburg's defense -- the top team nationally in NCAA Division III soccer in goals-against-average (0.19) and save percentage (.961) entering this week's play -- improved upon both percentages with the shutout victory, the team's 14th of the season. Augsburg is now tied with California-Santa Cruz for the most shutouts in Division III this season with 14 each. Augsburg's team goals-against-average dropped to 0.18, and its save percentage is now at .963. Augsburg has now outscored its opponents by a 35-3 margin this season.

Venter collected his 12th shutout of the season with his six-save performance, improving his nation-leading marks in both goals-against-average (0.20) and save percentage (.961).

Kevin Kelly (Fr., Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) had 10 saves in goal for Bethel. Andy Meier (Fr., Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy HS) and Reed Thunstrom (Sr., Isanti, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) had three shots apiece for the Royals.