A Long Time Coming

At the end of Luther's Wednesday night game against Minnesota rivals St. Olaf, Head Coach Garcia-Prats turned to his assistant, and with a big smile and a handshake said, "Well done, son." If you know Coach Garcia-Prats' normal sideline demeanor, then this tells you everything you need to know about how the game went. If not, your correspondent will help clear things up.
It was a gorgeous night in Decorah, and it was going to be interesting to see how this young team responded to two heartbreaking losses to start off the season. With a little help from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," the point was driven home that Luther must finish off St. Olaf once they had been injured and not let them hang around as in other games. The message was applied well, and when Brock Arend had a chance on goal as he was put in behind straight from the kickoff, it was a sign of things to come.
The game was begging to go to 1-0 when Arend again found himself with space in the box and put a shot just over the bar. It wasn't until the 22nd minute when Alex Case fed a ball into space for Michael Kustra down the left sideline. The Scotsman banged a shot across the face of goal and it deflected off a St. Olaf defender and lofted over the scrambling goalkeeper to put the Norse up 1-0. The half continued with a dominating performance by Luther, with only one real chance for St. Olaf that found the post.
The second half would prove to be the test of whether this team had the ability to finish games and get the wins they so often deserved. It didn't take long for the second goal to come in the 51st minute when a Michael Olson free kick was flicked on by Mark Fernandes and found Adam "$+@xxx" Dane who finished nicely and was mobbed by his teammates in front of a boisterous crowd. It seemed that the floodgates had been opened when three minuted later Dane was dragged down in the box on a free kick, giving Luther a penalty which Mike Olson finished well. Less than a minute later Mark Fernandes combined with Saul Rosales who found Brock Arend streaking into the box unmarked. Arend was able to keep the ball under the bar and found the side netting to put Luther up 4-0. As Luther continued to dominate, in the 80th minute Saul Rosales combined with Oketekyie "Oket" Dakwa-Agyekum to torch the St. Olaf defenders with a series of wall passes. The gorgeous combination resulted in notching Rosales' second assist of the day and Oket's first collegiate goal. Their spinning pirouette of an embrace in celebration of Luther's 5-0 lead said everything about the night.
A grand performance from everyone across the board against St. Olaf left a good feeling in the hearts and minds of the Luther faithful for the first time this season. This is the performance Coach Garcia-Prats knew the boys had in them, and it has been 3 years in the making for this emerging team. The standards have been raised now that they have made known what they are capable of, and the test will be to see if it can be repeated throughout the season. Luther look to continue their stellar performance Tuesday, September 14th when they face Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI.