Collegeville, MN. – The St. Scholastica Men's Soccer team traveled to Collegeville today, October 23 to compete against an evenly matched MIAC Conference opponent, the Johnnies of Saint John's University. The game ended with the Johnnies taking the home-field win over the Saints with a last-second desperation goal. 
 

How it Happened 

1st Half

The first half opened admittedly slow, both teams traded off fouls and close calls. The highlight of the first ten minutes was the large amount of warnings and free kicks given out. In the first ten minutes of play, there were a total of four free kicks awarded, three for the Johnnies and one for the Saints, illustrating how badly the Saints want this win in opposing territory. 

The Johnnies were the first on the board, scoring a goal against the Saint's goalkeeper who was off balance after facing a previous shot. Their goal would come in at 14:18.

Only a minute and a half after their goal, the Johnnies once again had the ball going down the sideline. The Saints' Aiden Olson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) tried to get in front of the attacker but moved too quickly resulting in a yellow card being handed to the Saints. 

The Saints found themselves unable to tie the game before the Johnnies could extend their lead. The Johnnies once again found the back of the net, beating the Saints' defense at 17:50.

Nearing the end of the first half, still down two, the Saints were desperate to not let the Johnnies anywhere near their net before the half. In doing so, Parker Chastey (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld HS) attempted a slide tackle but went too far, tackling the defender and was handed a yellow card. 

After facing adversity coming down the field, at 36:05, Gabriel Marchesoni (Surrey, BC, CA) found his way to the net, alone, and scored the Saints' first goal of the game, bringing the Saints within one of the Johnnies. 

2nd Half

The Second half began the same way as the first. Both teams had good control of the ball on their opponent's end, and plenty of fouls were called on both teams. 

Saint John's found themselves on defense very close to their net, to prevent a goal they committed a penalty giving the Saint's a penalty kick. Marchesoni would take the penalty and score his second goal of the game, and second goal for the Saints, tying the game at 2-2, at 60:22. 

The Saints were far from in the clear, and much to their chagrin they received another yellow card, this time much closer to the net, just outside the box. But on the free kick, the Saints' defense held up and prevented the goal. 

With the clock winding down, and only 17 minutes remaining in the game, neither team had any advantage, both teams were getting called for every infraction and awarded numerous penalty kicks. But at the 17-minute mark, Truls Wichstrom-Johansen had an opening close to the net and got an amazing shot off, but bounced off the crossbar. 

With 15 minutes remaining the Saints would be on the receiving end of another yellow card, this time outside of the shooting range of the Johnnies. 

With only ten minutes remaining in the game, Wichstrom-Johansen once again found an opening in the Johnnies defense, he managed to beat all of the Johnnies defense, including the goalkeeper and gave the Saints the lead late into the second half. His goal was unassisted. 

The Johnnies once again made the game interesting as with only two minutes remaining of play, they tied the game up with a shot that soared over the goalkeeper's left side, the game was tied 3-3.

It did not take long for the johnnies to answer back, and with no time left on the clock they managed to find the back of the net coming off another yellow card given to the Saints. 

The game would conclude with a final score of 3-4. 

Up Next

The Saints (3-13-1, 1-7 MIAC) will stay on the road to play their final away game of the regular season, this time against the Auggies (8-3-5, 2-1-4 MIAC) of Augsburg University, in Saint Paul, MN. This will be their second to last regular season game, with the Saints ending against a tough MIAC opponent, the Gustavus Gusties (12-0-2, 6-0-1 MIAC). The game against Augsburg is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, October 26.