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St. Joseph, Minn. – The Saint Benedict soccer team dropped a nail-biting match to the Gustavus Gusties by a score of 2-1 on a frigid, windy, afternoon.

Senior forward Maggie Lane put the Gusties on the board early in the first half, chipping the ball just over the outstretched fingers of Blazer keeper Claire O'Brien, to put the Gusties ahead 1-0.

Mid-way through the first half, Lane added her second goal of the game off a cross by teammate Leah Brossoit, putting the Gusties up by two goals and arousing a sense of urgency out of the Blazer offense, who suddenly found themselves down by two goals in a game they were favored to win.

Less than a minute later, first-year sensation Aly Hoffman pulled the Blazers within one, successfully punching away a wide open shot off a beautiful set up by junior forward Colleen Bouchard. The goal was Hoffman's fourth in the past three games, and her fifth on the young season, placing her fourth among the conference leaders.

There was no lack of offensive pressure the rest of the way for the Blazers, as they outshot the Gusties 11-2 in the second half, and 20-7 in the match. They simply could not seem to beat Gustie senior keeper Jessica Richert, who finished the game with an outstanding 13 saves.

“It was a tough loss, I think we played really hard...they were just quicker to the ball than us at some points during the game; but we hustled them, we outshot them, it's something to learn from. It's probably going to come back to bite us at the end of the season but we have to remember that this is why we have to come out ready for every game,” said Jenny Brattensborg, senior defender.

The loss drops the Blazers out of a four-way tie for first place in the MIAC, and means they will have to finish the rest of the season nearly perfect if they want to repeat as conference champions.

The loss did teach the team a couple of lessons that will help them improve their play as the conference season drags on.

“We have to come out prepared 110% for every game we have to play together step first to the ball and work as a team and just come out hard and not think less of any other team, no matter who they are,” said Brattensborg.

Next up for the Blazers will be a road trip to Minneapolis, where they will take on conference foe Augsburg (5-2, 1-1 MIAC) this Wednesday (Sept. 26).