MINNEAPOLIS — The Augsburg University men's soccer team ended its regular season with a 1-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference defeat by Macalester College on Friday at Edor Nelson Field. The game marked the final collegiate regular-season home games for eight Augsburg seniors —
Samson Gyasi,
Asher Johnson,
Cole Pettit,
Remus Repcak,
Eric Riera, Zacharia Sherian,
Jacob Thao and
Andrew Ziebarth.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Macalester 1, Augsburg 0
LOCATION: Edor Nelson Field, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 5-4-7 overall (4-3-3 MIAC), Macalester 7-5-4 overall (5-4-1 MIAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Auggies withstood 10 Scots attacking actions without conceding during a first-half stretch from 4:20 to 14:36, but the Scots scored once in the first half. The Auggies finished with 15 shots, including 10 after halftime, while goalkeeper
Finnur Mercier made nine saves against 21 Scots shots.
The Auggies absorbed sustained Scots pressure in the first half, with Mercier making five saves before Kasdan Blattman scored for the visitors in the 37th minute off an assist from Kiernan Gaughan. Earlier, Repcak put the Auggies' first shot on frame at 1:16 and added another attempt in the 10th minute, while the Scots generated five shots and four corner kicks by 14:36 without scoring. The Auggies created more looks in the middle of the half, including saved shots by Riera at 27:25 and Repcak at 30:57, plus another Riera attempt that missed left in the 34th minute. After the Scots went ahead, the Auggies earned a corner kick at 39:26, and Mercier added another save in the 42nd minute before the Auggies went into halftime trailing 1-0.
The Auggies generated most of the second-half pressure while trying to erase a 1-0 deficit, finishing the half with 10 shots and three corner kicks but no goal. Earlier,
Christopher Plaza Alvarado put a shot high in the 51st minute, and
Gio Casias forced a save from Justin Ratner at 52:30 during a stretch that included back-to-back Auggies corners. Mercier kept the Auggies within reach with saves in the 50th, 67th and 90th minutes, including two stops on John Albright shots. The Auggies continued to press late, with
Asher Johnson,
Liam Paradiso, Repcak and
Jackson Nichols-Lindsey all recording attempts from the 75th through 83rd minutes.
Mercier recorded nine saves over 90 minutes in goal, with six in the first half and three in the second. Repcak led the Auggies with four shots and put two on goal. Casias added three shots, including one on frame.
QUOTES FROM AUGSBURG COACH GREG HOLKER
"That was not the way we wanted our seniors to end their regular season careers at Edor Nelson Field. They've been tremendous at home during their tenure, now with a 23-4-7 record. That is incredible overall -- really impressive."
"Hats off to Macalester for their performance tonight, especially in the first half. They were clearly hungrier than we were, and they outworked us in every spot on the field. We needed halftime to come fast, and were pretty fortunate to only be down 1-0 to be honest."
"We were much improved in the second half, but still didn't reach our full potential. It's been a weird couple of weeks here. We've trained well, played poorly to start in our last game at Superior, then trained really well this week, and started slow again. The group has quality. We've been tough to beat all season long, and dancing on the edge of being really good."
"For some reason, we haven't yet found the right recipe. We've spoken a bit about our identity being that we don't have a clear identity -- and maybe that's exhausting. It also allows us to play differently in any game and shape shift to meet the needs of the game. This can be a big advantage. We are adaptable and good at it."
"Tonight,
Remus Repcak was our best player. He definitely influenced the game on both sides of the ball. When
Asher Johnson came in the second half higher up, he was really impactful. He put an inch perfect cross in that Liam just nicked wide."
"We are going to need a lot more from everyone on Tuesday, if we get in, because we know how Saint John's plays."
UP NEXT
Augsburg will clinch the final seed in the six-team MIAC postseason playoffs if Saint John's wins or ties in its regular-season finale at St. Scholastica on Saturday. The Auggies would play at the No. 3 seed, either Saint John's or Carleton, on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.
