SAINT PETER, Minn. — The Gustavus men's soccer team is set to host Saint John's at 2 p.m. Monday for a MIAC quarterfinal playoff matchup at the Gustie Soccer Field. The Gusties finished third in the league with an overall record of 8-3-6 and MIAC mark of 5-2-3, while the Johnnies (7-6-4 overall, 4-4-2 MIAC) finished as the No. 6 team in the conference. 

GUSTIES IN THE MIAC PLAYOFFS

The MIAC Men's Soccer Playoffs began in 2003 and since then Gustavus has made 16 appearances with a record of 15-9, including a league-best seven championships. This year's playoff appearance is the seventh consecutive for Gustavus, after falling in the title game to St. Olaf 2-1 last season. The Gusties last won the league playoff in 2019 when they defeated Saint John's 6-2 in the semifinals and St. Thomas 3-1 in the championship.

THE SERIES

Monday's game marks the 75th all-time meeting between Gustavus and Saint John's on the soccer pitch with the Gusties holding a 36-25-13 advantage in the series. With a 1-0 win in the MIAC semifinals last season, the Gusties own the winning record in the playoff series 4-3. This is the third consecutive season the Gusties open postseason play with the Johnnies. Last postseason, Clarence Weah scored the only goal of the game at minute 71 to lead the Gusties to the MIAC championship game. Wesley Sanders made four saves in goal to post the clean sheet.

LAST TIME THEY MET — GUSTIES vs. JOHNNIES

This season, the Gusties defeated the Johnnies 2-0 on Oct. 6 in Saint Peter. Jared Hecht, in his first game back from injury, scored both of the game's goals within two minutes of each other.

The first half went scoreless with the Johnnies outshooting the Gusties 5-3. Playing into the wind for the second half, Gustavus controlled a majority of the possession battle and it paid off in the 67th minute. Hecht knocked in a pass from Owen Johnson directly in front of the net for his first goal of the year. Less than two minutes later, Johnson slipped a pass to Cole Frazier who found Hecht once again in front of the net for the second score. Hecht, who played just 17 minutes, nearly recorded the hat trick moments later, but his third shot on goal was saved. 

Raphael Cattelin knocked on the door multiple times with a season-high five shots on goal. Wesley Sanders made five saves for his fourth shutout of the season and 24th of his career. Gustavus ended the game outshooting the Johnnies 13-9 overall and 10-5 on goal. 

LAST ACTION

The Gustavus men's soccer team concluded regular season play with an impressive offensive performance, erupting for six goals against St. Scholastica Saturday for a 6-1 victory.

The Gusties scored early (and often), as Hecht tallied his seventh of the season 6:46 into game play. Hecht found the Saints keeper out of position, and chipped the ball over his head to take a 1-0 lead. The Saints got their only goal of the game 17 minutes later, breaking Sanders' shutout to tie the game at one apiece. The Gusties, unfazed, responded with two more goals before the end of the half. Joe Flory, on a pass from Jack Knight, found himself in the box and sent a shot into the high right corner for his fourth of the season. Jack Isroff scored four minutes later, taking a pass from Rivaldo Pena and beating multiple Saints defenders for the 3-1 lead at the half. 

Jack Knight, not satisfied with just an assist on the day, scored his second of the season, getting assists from Isroff and Otis Anderson for a 4-1 Gustie lead just four minutes into the second frame. Hecht added his second 10 minutes later, with another assist from Anderson, who finished with four helpers. Nick Katzman closed things out, wrapping up the score at 6-1 for the Gusties with a goal in the 70th minute. 

The Gusties outshot the Saints 27-8, including a mark of 13-6 in shots on goal. Hecht, Anderson, Owen Johnson, and Joe Flory each had a pair of shots on frame in the game, while five other Gusties accounted for the remainder. Sanders made four saves in 51 minutes of play, while junior Egan Bedwell made a save in the 38 minutes he saw in goal. 

SCOUTING THE GUSTIES

The Gusties finished third in the conference this year with a record of 5-2-3. Through 17 games this season, the Gusties average 2.06 goals per game and allow an even 1.00 against. The Gusties have outshot opponents 305-145 this season, including a mark of 140-76 in shots on goal. The Gusties average 17.9 shots/game and 8.2 on frame per game. Hecht leads the offense with 17 points on eight goals and one assist. Next for the Gusties is Raphael Cattelin, with 15 points on five goals and five assists. Owen Johnson leads the team in assists for the second straight season, tallying 10 so far this year. This marks the third season in a row for Johnson with double-digit assists, and the senior currently ranks third all-time for career assists (35). Johnson is seven assists away from the program career record set by Matthew Gibbons' (2017-21). Wesley Sanders is the Gusties' top keeper this season, posting a goals against average of 0.95 and a save percentage of 0.785. Sanders has picked up a record of 8-2-5 in 16 games played. 

SCOUTING THE JOHNNIES

Saint John's enters the quarterfinals with a 7-6-4 overall record and 4-4-2 mark in the league. The Johnnies average 1.3 goals per game (7th MIAC) and allow 1.4 per game (6th MIAC). Matt D. Anderson leads the team in points with 10 on four goals and two assists, and has played and started in all 17 of the Johnnies games. Alex Bowman and Riley Buxell are next, each with eight points. Evan Siefken has spent the most time at keeper, playing and starting in 15 games. Siefken has allowed 19 goals on 99 shots for a 1.31 goals against average, .839 save percentage, and a record of 6-5-4. The junior has a career high six shutouts this year, which ranks third in the conference. 

THE PLAYOFF FIELD

The opposite quarterfinal game features Augsburg (five-seed) and Macalester (four-seed), who will face each other for the second game in a row. The two teams tied 2-2 Oct. 27, and boast two of the conference's top scorers in Hans Haenicke (Macalster) and Kebba Janneh (Augsburg). The Scots, who host the Auggies at 2 p.m. Monday, are making their 14th playoff appearance and ninth in a row. Augsburg is back in the playoffs for the eighth time in program history after missing last year's tournament, finishing seventh in the league. This is only the second meeting between the two teams in the playoffs. The Scots own the only win, a 3-2 quarterfinal victory in 2021.

St. Olaf and Carleton are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the tournament, respectively. The Oles (8-0-2 MIAC) clinched their eighth MIAC regular season championship and second in the last three seasons. St. Olaf is the defending MIAC Playoff Champion, having won the third postseason title in program history last fall. The two teams will enjoy a break until Thursday, when they host the second round semifinals. Following Monday's results, the bracket will re-seed, matching up the lowest remaining seed against the top-seeded Oles, while the Knights (8-1-1 MIAC) will welcome the higher seed.

SWEET SEVENTEEN

The Gusties clinched their 17th berth to the MIAC playoffs, the most of any MIAC team. The Gusties' 15 playoff wins are the most in the conference — two more than Carleton and five more than Macalester (10). Gustavus also boasts the best playoff winning percentage at 0.625.

LENDING A HELPING HAND

Otis Anderson broke the program record for assists in a game with four on Saturday against St. Scholastica. Anderson added helpers on the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth goals. The fifth-year defender now has nine assists this season and 14 in his career. He breaks a record of three assists in a single game set by seven different players nine times, most recently by Nicholas Leach in 2019 against Simpson. 

HECHT YEAH!

After missing the first nine games of the season due to injury, Jared Hecht made an instant impact in his return for the Gusties, scoring eight goals in eight games to take the team lead. Hecht sits second in the MIAC for goals scored against conference opponents (seven), and far and away leads the conference in MIAC goals per game, with 1.40 this season.

RECORD WATCH

Wesley Sanders is one clean sheet away from tying the program record for career shutouts, set by Mark Genosky (1989-92). Sanders has 25 in his career, most recently a 6-0 win at Concordia on Oct. 14. His five shutouts this season ranks fourth behind Johnnie keeper Siefken.