Kevin Sethre, staff writer

The Augsburg mens and womens soccer teams both got off to great starts in their respective seasons during non-conference play.  The two teams went into their MIAC openers this week with a combined record of 8-0-1.

The women opened the season with a scoreless draw at UW-Eau Claire before winning three home matches in a row against University of Northwestern-St. Paul, UW-La Crosse, and UW-Superior.

The Auggies were dominant in their home opener against UNW despite the 1-0 final score. Augsburg took 29 shots during the game, 14 of which were on target, and held the Eagles to just three, with only one on target.  Despite the high volume of shots, the Auggies didn’t score until 86:11 when Jennifer Bobaric scored the first goal of her collegiate career.

Augsburg fell behind early against La Crosse when the Eagles scored just 4:25 into the game, but Bobaric brought the Auggies back only 91 seconds later.  She added two more goals in the second half to complete a hat trick and secure a 3-1 win for Augsburg. 

The Auggies had to come from behind again on September 10 against Superior after the Yellow Jackets scored 11:50 into the first half.  Jaelyn Nedelcoff equalized for Augsburg at 55:30 before Bobaric scored another goal in overtime to secure another win for the Auggies.

The men got off with an impressive 5-0 start with wins over UW-Superior, Crown College, Puget Sound, Central College, and UNW-St. Paul.  They have been playing very well in the second half of games.  They scored an incredible 6 goals in the second half against Crown to thrash the Storm 7-1, and they scored 4 goals in the second half against UNW-St. Paul to easily win after a first-half where they took 6 shots but failed to score against the Eagles.

Through the first five games, Kebba Janneh, Kobby Owu, and Helio de la Torre have been the most dangerous offensive threats for Augsburg. All three of them have scored 4 goals and recorded 1 assist. Tomas Piza-Gonzalez, Alex Giles, and Jessie Juarez lead the team with 2 assists each.

The womens team dropped their MIAC opener by a score of 3-1 at Hamline. Bobaric scored her sixth goal of the season in the second half.  Their next game is at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa at 6 on Saturday night.

The mens team opened their conference schedule with a 1-0 win in double overtime at Hamline with Nick Zuchowski scoring the winning goal in a game where both teams had a player sent off with a red card.