Defensive efforts highlighted an up-and-down season for the 2021 Augustana Vikings men's soccer team as a strong start to their campaign was fueled by strong defense and goalkeeping. 

After an opening-season loss to Simpson, the Vikings responded with four wins in their next five games, all by way of a shutout. Augie's first victory came in their home-opener against Rockford, where freshman Jarrett Baumgartner sent in all three goals for the Vikings to earn a hat trick and lead the team to a 3-0 win. Augustana then defeated Coe 2-0 before dropping a road match to Marian.

The Vikings made it a perfect three-for-three start to their home slate, bouncing back from the defeat to Marian with back-to-back home shutout wins. The first came against Knox in dramatic fashion as a late double overtime goal from Nick Dispensa in the 105th minute gave Augie the 1-0 win over the Prairie Fire. A few days later, the Vikings knocked off Monmouth 2-0 to round out the heavy part of their non-conference schedule with a 4-2 record.

Augie went through a bit of a rough patch as they dove into CCIW action, beginning with a couple of close losses against Wheaton and Millikin. In their second-to-last game of the season, the Vikings erupted for six goals, scored by five different players, to defeat the Carroll Pioneers by a score of 6-1. Of the five players who tallied at least one goal, three secured their first score of the season. 

On an individual level, Frankie Baio found himself in multiple top 25 spots in the Augie record book in goal. He is already 14th all-time in career saves with 69 from the 2021 season. He also posted four shutouts in five of his wins, good for seventh most in program history. His 4.93 saves per contest is tied for sixth all-time. Freshman Sebastian Gabrielson was the team leader in goals (7), assists (4), and points (18) for the Vikings. He also led the way with 41 shots and had two game-winning goals for Augustana.

Augustana opens up their 2022 season on September 1 against Simpson.


2021 AUGUSTANA MEN'S SOCCER SUPERLATIVES
CCIW Academic All-Conference: Eirik Andersen, Frankie Baio, Matias Bidegaray, Ryan Bobrowski, Austin Carr, Nick Dispensa, Juan Grijalva, Justin Kornas, Tommy Martin, Collin Mendoza, Jason Miller, Cameron Ranne