Men's Soccer 10/6/07 -- Augsburg 2, St. Mary's 1
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WINONA, Minn. (10/6/07) – Andrew Connor (Sr., Becket, Mass./North Muskegon (Mich.) HS) and Nick Manders * (Sr., De Pere, Wis./West De Pere HS) scored goals less than two minutes apart in the first half, lifting Augsburg College to a 2-1 victory over host St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer game Saturday afternoon at Ochrymowycz Field.
Connor scored on an assist from Jake Lor (So., St. Paul, Minn./Central HS) at the 32:19 mark, and Manders scored on a penalty kick at the 34:06 mark for the Auggies, now 8-4-0 overall, 3-2-0 in MIAC play.
Jermaine Walker scored on a penalty kick in the 67th minute for St. Mary's, now 2-8-1 overall, 0-5-0 in MIAC play. St. Mary's had a chance to tie the game with another penalty kick with less than three minutes left in the game, but the attempt sailed high over the crossbar.
"We played this game without seven of our regular starters, and the guys we brought down fought extremely hard and deserved the two points," said Augsburg head coach Greg Holker. "Our work rate defensively has improved tremendously since our game with St. Olaf, and these guys are making every minute of training count. We are getting more minutes from more players, and I am learning that we have a deep, deep group."
Augsburg outshot St. Mary's by a 21-13 margin. Augsburg goalkeeper Donnie McCarthy (Jr., Whitehall, Mich.) recorded six saves for the win, while Jon Szafranski had 11 saves for St. Mary's.
"Alex Calof (So., Burnsville, Minn./Lakeville North HS) went 90 minutes and did well at left back," Holker said. "Andrew Connor was dangerous again, scoring one goal and drawing the penalty for our other tally. David Long (Jr., Bloomington, Minn./Holy Angels HS) was very good during his time on the field and Nick Manders * took his play to another level. If we can continue to get strong performances from a diverse group of players, and get some of our injured players back in the team, we will make a run at earning a spot in the MIAC playoffs."
Both teams return to MIAC action on Wednesday (10/10) at 4 p.m., as Augsburg plays at Gustavus and St. Mary's plays at Carleton.
"Gustavus will be a great test," Holker said. "They had a busy weekend getting a very good result against Hamline on Saturday, and battling UW-Whitewater to a 1-1 tie through two overtimes on Sunday. Everyone is aware of Butterworth, but I am very impressed with Van Der Streek and Malmquist - they will all be a handful to deal with on Wednesday."
