Box Score
Box Score
ST. PETER, Minn. – Saint John's University junior Zane Heinselman (River Falls, Wis.) scored two unanswered goals in the first half to give the Johnnies a 2-1 win at No. 20 Gustavus Adolphus in the MIAC Playoff Semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in St. Peter.
SJU (9-6-3, 6-2-2 MIAC) travels to face the winner of the other MIAC semifinal, Carleton at St. Olaf, at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, for the MIAC Playoff Championship and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Knights and Oles were scheduled to play at 2 p.m. today but the match was postponed to the same time on Thursday, Nov. 7, due to last evening's snowfall.
The Gusties allowed only one first-half goal in its previous 26 matches going back to last season. The last time GAC allowed two goals in the opening half was a 3-1 home loss to Central (Iowa) on Sept. 10, 2010; a span of 70 matches.
Mark Tollefsrud gave Gustavus (13-3-1, 10-0-0 MIAC) an early 1-0 lead with his seventh goal of the season 26:45 into the match.
Heinselman tied the match at 1-1 six minutes later and gave SJU the lead for good on a header shot with 5:32 left off a corner kick by senior Michael Coborn (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) for his first multi-goal game as a Johnnie. The assist was the 36th of Coborn's collegiate career, moving him out of a tie with Jim Phelps (1979-81) for third in school history with 88 career points (26g/36a).
Senior Ryan Brutger (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) made five saves in the win to improve to 5-2-0 on the year (12-10-4 in his career).
"Coborn was the master puppeteer, pulling the strings and bringing the stage to life," head coach John Haws said. "Heinselman needs to be highlighted for his incisive play in the box. He was truly a joy to watch. Senior Joe Laue kept the Gusties stymied all day, while Brutger put in blue-collar work in net. He was more like a custodian, as he cleaned up the few spills our tight back line allowed."
The win is the first for SJU over the Gusties since 2009 (1-0) and the first in St. Peter since 2006 (1-0). The victory also ended a two-game MIAC-Playoff losing streak for the Johnnies, their first since the 1-0 overtime win at Macalester to claim the 2005 title.
