Augie saved by Grace
MSU soccer stunned by Augustana in overtime
Thirteen seconds away from playing 10 more minutes of overtime soccer on a chilly Sunday afternoon at Herb Parker Stadium, Augustana junior forward Grace Behm snuck behind the Minot State defense.
The Beavers attempted to backtrack quickly, but it was too late. Behm, shielding off her defender, got face-to-face with MSU goalkeeper Erin Rafferty.
A precise finish into the left side of the net by Behm was out of the reach of Rafferty. Game over.
Augustana rushed the field to celebrate while the Beavers quietly walked away in disbelief.
Behm’s first goal of the season couldn’t have come at a better time for the Vikings, as Augustana (6-1-1, 5-0 NSIC) remained perfect in conference play this season with a 1-0 road victory over Minot State (4-2-2, 2-2-1 NSIC).
“Absolutely massive,” Augustana head coach Brandon Barkus said about the importance of this win. “Coming to Minot and winning ever is huge. Then, winning in the fashion we did today was big. This was good for us.”
While a slight lapse in concentration led to the only goal of the game, MSU head coach Jason Spain couldn’t fault his defense for the final outcome of the game.
“We got lost there on a mark,” Spain said. “It is what it is. We haven’t been very good up front, so that leaves our backs to defend and be perfect for 110 minutes.”
The Beavers were impenetrable for a little over 99 minutes and that wasn’t good enough. Augustana’s Alexis Legg found a crack to feed the ball to Behm. And with the Vikings’ 10th shot on goal, they had won their third overtime game this season.
MSU was outshot 14-8 (10-4 shots on target). The Beavers best scoring chance came with 16 minutes left in the first half. Sophomore Sofia Lewis used her speed to get behind the Augie defense and their goalkeeper Claudia Pueschner. But, unable to gather herself, she smacked the crossbar with a pair of Augustana defenders scrambling back to defend the goal line.
Lewis, Haley Berryman and Sydnee Canales — MSU’s leading strike force on offense this season — all started on the bench Sunday against Augustana. Spain, holding true to his word that some changes needed to be made following a 0-0 draw Friday night to Wayne State, started forwards Cinthya Samaniego, Taryn Love and Daniela Fonseca in their place.
The adjustment to spark some life into the stagnant Beavers’ attack didn’t do much and Spain injected Lewis, Berryman and Canales back into the lineup 16 minutes into the contest.
But, that didn’t work either. Nobody could find the back of the net.
MSU hasn’t scored a goal in 213 minutes of action, by far the longest drought this season.
“I don’t know,” Spain said when asked what they could do to fix the offense. “I have to look at the film.”
Pueschner, reigning NSIC Goalkeeper of the Week, kept the Beavers at bay by making four saves to pick up her fifth shutout of the season. Augustana hasn’t conceded a goal in 425 minutes of action — shutting out its last four opponents.
“We got a senior center back in Rebekah Thoresen and she is an absolute rock,” Barkus said. “She is phenomenal and the kid next to her hadn’t played a whole lot the last couple of years, but just worked, developed, grew and matured. Then, our goalkeeping pushes each other every day in training. We have really just bought in.”
The conference schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Beavers. MSU will hit the road next week to face Concordia-St. Paul (5-0-2, 2-0-2 NSIC) on Friday and then Minnesota State Mankato (5-1-1, 3-0-1 NSIC) on Sunday.
Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.