Yellowjackets fall to Gusties in OT

Brian Grand carries the ball down the left wing against Concordia.

Box Score

Gustavus Adolphus 2, Yellowjackets 1 (OT)

For the second time in as many Saturdays, Mother Nature intervened and played a role in a Yellowjacket men's soccer match. Last week, lightning just 31 seconds into overtime brought the match with Loras College, ranked No. 2 in the nation, to a premature end. This time around, rain and lightning early in the day delayed the start of a soccer tripleheader at UW-Oshkosh by more than two hours, meaning the Yellowjackets and the Gusties didn't take the field until nearly 6:00 p.m.

And when they finally did get going, the two evenly matched teams played an extremely even match that was decided by the slimmest of margins.

Henry Brose scored his first goal of the season 6:55 into the first overtime to life Gustavus to a 2-1 victory and send the Yellowjackets to their second straight loss after opening the season 1-0-1.

The teams played a back-and-forth match in the opening half, going scoreless through the opening 45 minutes with the Yellowjackets holding a 5-4 edge in shots attempted, but the Gusties leading 4-2 in shots on goal.

Gustavus broke the stalemate in the 47th minute when Casey Gilbert drilled a shot home from 10 yards out, beating Yellowjacket goalkeeper Matt Elder (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) to make it 1-0.Jonathan Balthazar assisted.

The Yellowjackets came back to tie it with time winding down. With 9:40 remaining in the half, junior Brian Grand (North Branch, Minn./North Branch) scored his second goal in as many matches, converting from about 20 yards out to make it 1-1. It was the second goal of the year for Grand and it came unassisted.

The teams continued to match each other play-for-play and couldn't settle anything in regulation.

In the overtime neither team was able to muster a shot on goal, although the Yellowjackets did have a chance on a corner kick in the early going, but the game remained tied. That is until Brose, on an assist from David Lilly beat Elder from about ten yards out to give the Gusties the win.

Grand, in addition to the goal, led the Yellowjackets with three shots on goal in the match.

Elder finished the game with seven saves on nine shots. At the other end, Brett Ylonen made six saves in the victory.

The Yellowjackets (1-2-1, 0-0-0 WIAC) will remain in Oshkosh for the second game of their weekend. On Sunday they will take on Nebraska-Wesleyan, who lost to UW-Oshkosh on Saturday afternoon by a 2-0 score. Game time from Titan Stadium on Sunday is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

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