Sweet, Sweet Victory

On Friday night, the beauty of the weather here in Decorah, Iowa could only be matched by the beautiful effort put forth by the boys against Upper Iowa University. The start of the evening seemed ominous. We experienced some technical difficulties with the warm up tape and were forced to use the women's team mix which included both Miley Cyrus and Rascal Flats, which aren't exactly most guys' idea of a pump-up jam. But the show must go on, and did it ever.
Luther came out firing on all cylinders and getting after Upper Iowa from the start. They acheived a level of effort, enthusiasm and energy that has not been put forth so far this season. The boys won tackles, won headers, won second balls, and generally outworked their opponent. A gorgeous crowd of about 500 were there to cheer the boys on in their home opener, and the team seemed to feed off the infectious energy. Coach Garcia-Prats was heard after the game commenting on their scholarship program opponents, "With the way we played, I couldn't even tell you which of their players had scholarships." Luther was able to neutralize their opponents best players, one of which was former Luther player Jason Olsgard. With great games from Jimmy Laroque, Mike Olson, Adam Pyzdrwoski and Austin Walther, and the much needed to return of Alex Case to the midfield, Luther was able to come out on top for the first time this season.
Although the score line says 1-0 (a one-touch screamer to the back post from Adam Dane, Luther's leading scorer), a true fan will dig deeper and see that the game was not even that close. Luther outshot its opponent 25-4, and putting nine shots on goal to Upper Iowa's one. It was wonderful to see the boys work hard for each other, give of themselves for the team, and achieve the success that they deserve. Luther looks to continue its run of good play next weekend when they host Bethel and Carleton for Family Weekend here at Luther.