CHICAGO, Ill. - Sophomore forward
Jack Isroff and senior keeper
Egan Bedwell propelled the Gustavus men's soccer team to a 1-0 upset win over No. 7 University of Chicago on Friday afternoon to kick off the 2024 season.
"It was a massive performance from the boys, especially under the challenging circumstances," said Head Coach
Tudor Flintham, who was unable to make the trip due to a recent surgery. "[Assistant coaches] David, Scotty, and Jamie stepped up in a massive way. We had a really good training week and prepared really well with a tactical plan. With Chicago being an absolute beast of a team and already having played two Division I teams in preseason, we knew it was going to be a heck of a challenge."
Isroff scored the lone goal of the game at the 61:21 mark while Bedwell stopped all five shots on goal. Isroff tallied the third goal of his career while Bedwell picked up his fourth career clean sheet in his 16th game played.
"Jack has looked fantastic all preseason so I'm not surprised he popped up with the goal," said Flintham. "He had composure on the finish to cut off the defender and then slot it in with his left foot, which was fantastic. And Egan came up with some massive stops. He's stepped up in a big way and he's showing everyone that he's the man."
The first half went scoreless after Chicago controlled the pace of play early, but after 45 minutes the shots were even at 6-6.
"We had to weather a storm for the first 10 to 15 minutes," Fintham said. "Chicago looked really good on the ball and kind of absorbed it. I thought we had the better of the chances overall. We hit the cross bar and their keeper made a point blank save that stopped
Jared Hecht from tapping one in on a corner. The boys really dug deep and we used a ton of guys on a hot day. To be able to go deep into our bench and play a bunch of freshmen was huge."
Chicago finished the game with a 15-8 advantage in shots and 6-4 advantage on goal.
"It was a full team defensive performance in terms of getting underneath the ball," Flintham said. "I thought Jared with
Spencer Skjeldestad,
Simon Woods, and
Sam Just with a few guys rotating through that defensive midfield position, that defensive block was unbelievable today. It was a game that I felt we deserved to win. We'll rest, recover, and move on to the CCIW champs in North Central on Sunday.
Sunday's game at North Central College, who received votes in the preseason national poll, begins at 1 p.m. in Naperville, Ill.
