‘I wish I had 2 of her:’ Cortes-Gustafson stars in field, in goal as Lady Zs beat Wabash in PKs

Miller scores twice; Navara, Walker assist

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Alexandria Cortes-Gustafson Gretchen Gardner

Alexandria Cortes-Gustafson is a versatile freshman for the Rochester girls soccer team, able to play both in the field and as a goalkeeper.

The Lady Zs used all of her skills to edge visiting Wabash 4-3 in penalty kicks at the Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex Tuesday.

Cortes-Gustafson scored a goal in regulation, and she also stopped three of the four shots she saw in penalty kicks. Senior striker Aubrey Miller scored the other two regulation goals for the Lady Zs, and she also converted her penalty kick in the game’s decisive phase.

The game was tied 3-3 after 80 minutes of regulation and two seven-minute overtime periods. Rochester then outscored Wabash 3-1 in penalty kicks.

Ruth Love and Gretchen Gardner also scored for the Lady Zs in penalty kicks.

Gardner’s kick in Round 5 never got off the ground and appeared to lack velocity, but Wabash freshman goalkeeper Sienna Stoffel had it slip underneath her hands, and it just crossed the goal line.

The Lady Zs then celebrated at midfield as they improved to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. They never led at any point of the previous 94 minutes.

“After some tough love in the second half, they were very, very resilient,” Rochester coach Chantal Rensberger said. “That’s what I just told them at the halftime – that that’s probably the best they’ve played in the second half in probably three seasons.”

Senior Logan Wright scored all three Wabash goals.

Love’s penalty kick ticked off Stoffel’s hands and went in the back left corner of the net. Cortes-Gustafson replaced Makhia Harding in net for the penalty kicks and saved Baelee Noland’s shot in Round 1 of penalty kicks.

Miller then drilled her kick in the back left corner of the net, but Wright scored herself, seemingly mimicking Miller’s kick.

Taylor Navara’s kick went high and hit the crossbar, but Cortes-Gustafson stopped Colleena Meadows’ shot.

Cortes-Gustafson had the attempt in Round 4, but Stoffel stopped her. Wabash’s Round 4 kicker was Raegen Jones, but her shot never got off the ground, and Cortes-Gustafson nabbed it.

“Amazing,” Rensberger said of Cortes-Gustafson. “She’s a jack of all trades. I want her in the goal because I know that she’s super dynamic, but she also has an amazing passing ability. She’s got great foot skills. She had a goal tonight. … She can cross the ball well. She’s definitely one where I wish I had two of her…. So she did exactly what I needed her to do. She’s out here probably an hour before every practice with her dad working, working, working. She works in the offseason. She’s a true keeper. She’ll definitely be back there with some more of our competitive teams such as Trinity (Greenlawn) and whatnot, so she definitely did a great job.”

Cortes-Gustafson said she has been playing soccer since she was a first-grader and keeper for three or four years. She explained her strategy for stopping penalty kicks.

“You really just have to look where their plant foot is facing,” Cortes-Gustafson said. “That basically just gives you the answer to where it’s going to go.”

Rochester won despite not having a substitute. Junior Gabby Medina was out with a foot injury, and Rensberger said junior Bria Rensberger just came back from a quad injury. In addition, Harding had been battling illness, and Miller seemed to shake off a hand injury during the game.

Wabash led 1-0 at halftime on a Wright run down the field. Rochester tied the game when Miller put her own rebound past Stoffel with 33:22 left, but Wabash retook the lead at 2-1 when Wright scored past Harding 44 seconds later.

Cortes-Gustafson, who later remarked that she got subbed out more in her middle school games than as a freshman in high school varsity games, tied it 2-2 on a goal off a precise Kelsey Walker assist at the 26:45 mark.

“I don’t even know,” Cortes-Gustafson said of her goal. “I just touched it, and it went in.”

Exactly eight minutes later, Wabash executed a long through ball to Wright, who raced down the field and beat Harding to her right to give Wabash a 3-2 lead.

Less than four minutes later, Miller scored another equalizer. Navara sent her a long pass that put her in alone on Stoffel. Stoffel went to her right to try and cut off the angle, but Miller dribbled around her and tucked in a shot inside the right post to an empty net.

Rensberger told Miller to not second-guess herself when she goes to finish. She also said she got tough with the speedy, experienced junior Navara.

“I was real big on Taylor Navara to stop carrying the ball up as much and use what her strength is, and she’s a great up-and-over passer to Aubrey Miller,” Rensberger said. “It was more like I was pretty stern with her. Like, you have a job, and you’re not doing it, and your team needs you. Once she settled down and started doing that, then the offense started moving well.”

A Wabash fan was ejected with 28:26 left in the second half for yelling at the center referee after he called a foul on a Wabash player.