Drew Lyon
Special to The Free Press
MANKATO —
Midway through the second half of their match against Rochester Mayo, perhaps no one was more surprised to find Mankato East leading 4-0 than the Cougars themselves.
“Oh, that never happens,” said senior midfielder and team captain Adam Osman of the four-goal cushion. “It’s always a fight with Mayo, and we’re always really happy to beat them. But we never had it in our mind that they couldn’t come back. ”
The Cougars brushed off a second-half Mayo rally to nab a 5-2 victory in their Big Nine Conference season opener Tuesday at Mankato’s Thomas Anderson Field.
“The two goals we gave up, I wasn’t really happy about,” East head coach Jerrad Aspelund said. “We just lost possession of the ball. But outside of those two goals, I thought we played brilliantly.”
The Cougars broke a scoreless tie in the 24th minute of the first half, when senior midfielder Abdifatah Aden passed to a waiting Brandon Welter, who snuck his shot past Mayo goalkeeper Joe Hagedorn.
“Abdi’s great at looking at players and he found me,” Welter said. “All I had to do was get it past the keeper.
“(The goal) was important. Mayo’s always at the top of the conference and we thought we could beat them 2-1, not 5-2.”
With 4:56 remaining in the half, Aden scored the first of his three goals, and added his second less than a minute later on an assist from Kevin Gjersvig to put the Cougars ahead 3-0 at halftime.
“Abdi’s been a workhorse for us, both in practice and games,” Aspelund said. “He’ll probably finish second in the state in scoring.”
In the 11th minute of the second half, Gjersvig posted his second assist on a scoring pass to junior midfielder Mohamud Ahmed.
“I consider our offense one of the best in the Big Nine,” said Osman. “I’ve been here for six years now and we’ve never clicked this early before. We’re playing at a high level right now.”
Mayo (1-4-1) spoiled East’s shutout bid with less than 18 minutes remaining on a shot by Ian Hathaway that slid past Mankato goalkeeper Derrick Davis. Ten minutes later, Mayo cut its deficit to 4-2 after a goal by Thomas Hannon.
“Derrick hasn’t been tested much this year and he was today and held his own when we had to,” Aspelund said. “We were far enough ahead that (the goals) didn’t really matter, but I knew a goal was coming by the way we were playing.”
Osman, the Cougars’ vocal leader, made sure he and his teammates didn’t coast through the final eight minutes.
“We were still winning, but they had eight minutes do some damage,” he said. “You see them come back? Give them 10 more minutes, give or take, and they could’ve done some more damage.”
Aden responded on the team’ behalf with his third goal on a shot from the right corner to pad the lead to 5-2 and ensure an East win.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys,” Aspelund said. “It seems like one goal is what gets us going. That’s what it takes to win against (Mayo). They’re a powerhouse.”
Mankato East (5-0, 1-0 Big Nine) continues its conference schedule Thursday at Albert Lea.
