WAVERLY, Iowa - The Gustavus men's soccer team started its NCAA tournament run with a 3-1 win against host Wartburg on Friday night. The Gusties, who handed the Knights just their second loss of the season (12-2-6), improve to 11-3-7 and will play Calvin (17-2-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday with the opportunity to advance to the Sweet 16 on the line.
It didn't take long for the Gusties to get on the board as they took an early 1-0 lead 5:46 into the match.
Jack Knight found open space directly in front of the net for the first score of the game. The Knights responded in the 18th minute with their lone goal of the game but the Gusties were awarded a penalty kick in the 38th minute.
Otis Anderson took advantage of the free kick and tallied his first goal of the season. Gustavus went into halftime with a 2-1 lead.
The final score of the game came at the 65:08 mark as
Jared Hecht scored on an assist from
Alex Krumenauer. Hecht's goal was his team-leading 11th of the season and the Gusties maintained the two-goal advantage the rest of the way.
The Knights outshot the Gusties 12-10 but Gustavus had more shots on goal at 5-4.
Wesley Sanders made three saves in goal.
