Men's Soccer 9/26/07 -- St. Olaf 3, Augsburg 2
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NORTHFIELD, Minn. (9/26/07) -- Brandon McCafferty scored with 1:04 left in regulation to lift the St. Olaf College men's soccer team to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Augsburg College in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Wednesday afternoon at St. Olaf's Rolf Mellby Field.
McCafferty's game-winner came about 18 minutes after Nathan Swenson tied the game on an assist from Scott Crider. Crider tied the game himself, at 1-1, with his goal at 28:16.
"We found a way to lose, and that is a nightmare," said Augsburg head coach Greg Holker. "We beat ourselves because we have not been concentrated on the details. We may be able to put the discs in the right pile, and keep the locker room clean, but on the field we are missing it. Our preparation is not sharp, we are failing to track players off the ball because we are choosing not to work hard all the time, and we are feeling sorry for ourselves because we are missing five of our best players."
Tyler Seidel (Sr., Woodbury, Minn.) scored two minutes earlier to give the Auggies a 1-0 lead on an assist from Kelsey Duerr (So., Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park HS). After Crider's goal, Augsburg regained the lead when Andrew Connor (Sr., Becket, Mass./North Muskegon (Mich.) HS) found the net just before halftime from Cassidy Duerr (Jr., Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park HS).
"We lost James See (Jr., Richfield, Minn./Holy Angels HS) and Alex Hildebrandt (So., St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park HS) about 20 minutes into the game with injuries," Holker said. "Cass Duerr made his debut, set up the second goal, and was playing very well before injuring his hand, which forced him to leave the game. Kelsey and Tyler are playing well together and they will help us get the goals we need to win, but we must hunker down and get back to some of last year's training in order to prevent goals."
Evan Fuhs (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.) had six saves in goal for Augsburg, now 6-4-0 overall, 2-2-0 in MIAC play. St. Olaf outshot Augsburg by a 19-17 margin.
Kevin Friede made five saves for the Oles (4-5-0, 2-2-0 MIAC), who have won three of their last four games.
Augsburg has its alumni game on Saturday (9/29) at 3:30 p.m., at Edor Nelson Field, and hosts St. Scholastica next Wednesday (10/3) at 5 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field. St. Olaf returns to MIAC play on Saturday at 1 p.m., with a game at St. John's.
"This has to be a team that learns to accept the challenge it faces and achieve the 13 points needed to get into the MIAC playoffs -- no matter what it takes," Holker said. "Everything begins and ends with work rate -- constant, relentless pursuit of excellence. At this time, our grade is definitely a 'C' for the mid-term in that category. Right now we are doing what is necessary to survive, but not what it takes to thrive -- average. And this is not an average group."
