Family Weekend a Mixed Blessing

It was a roller-coaster weekend full of highs and lows for the Luther Norse. On an ideal Saturday afternoon, Luther played the Bethel University, who was off to their best start since 1997, at 5-1. After an all-too-familiar slow start, the half time score was 0-0 without many chances for either side. An admittedly boring game became much more exciting in the second half.
In the middle of what was most likely his best game of the year, Eric Johnson took an elbow to the cheek and went down deep in our defensive half. He ended up leaving the game and receiving twenty four stitches under the right eye. Later in the half, Luther received another blow when Alan Bedell picked up a straight red card for violent conduct and Luther was forced to play without two starters and down a man. For reasons unknown to the coaching staff, Luther decided to wait for all of this adversity to decide to play up to their potential. Austin Walther picked up his first collegiate goal off of a corner kick, and after a couple huge saves from goalkeeper Steve O'Meara, Adam Pyzdrowski and Jimmy Laroque picked up their first goals of the season on break-aways. The game finished 3-0 as Luther siezed opportunity and were able to score when they had chances. It was not their best performance but it was good to pick up another win in front of the families.
After a lovely banquet for the friends and families of Luther Soccer to honor our seniors on Saturday night, Luther was ready to continue their winning streak against Carleton on Sunday. Mark Fernandes and local product Jackson Stalberger played well in their first collegiate start and Luther probably played its best half of the year against Calreton, who was a sweet sixteen team in the national tournament last year. Luther saw much more of the ball but couldn't convert their chances. Even though Luther outshot Carleton 21-6, they could not find a way to score and ended up conceding a goal against the run of play with fifteen minutes to play when a Carleton player was first to a ball on the near post. Luther went to three in back in order to chase the game and ended up conceding another soft goal in a scrum infront of the net. Considering Luther did not have two of their starting defensive stand-outs, it was a good effort, but the team still has a lot to learn about finishing chances. They look forward to starting IIAC play this weekend against Dubuque on Saturday at home.