About Bonds

Men's soccer looking to build on 11-7 finish

Date 11/11/2004 12:00 AM | Topic: Sports

The men's soccer team ended their season with a loss in the IIAC Conference Tournament Semifinals.

The Norse fell to the Loras Duhawks 2-1 last Friday in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Their final overall record was 11-7 (6-2 IIAC).

Six seniors brought their Luther careers to a close against Loras. Four-year starters Tim Elgin, Jordan Hartman and Jeremiah Reinkoester along with Eric Henderson, Mo Norman and Russ Schouweiler all bid adieu Friday.

Reinkoester scored the lone goal for the men unassisted in the 20th minute.

Goalkeeper Leif Madsen ('08) collected three saves while the defense allowed four shots on goal.

Scoring for the Duhawks were Nick Sullivan, assisted by Andy Zimmer, and Matt Ochoa unassisted on a play resulting from a collision between the goalie and a defender.

Loras goalkeeper Nick Murray made two saves while allowing one goal in 45 minutes of work and Kevin Smerko finished the final minutes with no saves and no goals allowed.

The Duhawks' defense held the Norse to just three shots on goal.

"We picked a bad day to be bad," said Head Coach Doug Mello. "We didn't get the job done."

The Norse were trying to get back to the National Tournament for the sixth time after missing last year's tournament.

"A lot of teams would be happy with the way we've done this season," said Mello. "For [the seniors] who went [to Nationals] their first two years, it's frustrating not to make it."

Along with the seniors, Mello identified other outstanding players for the season in defenders Andrew Best ('06) and Quinn Fitzsimmons ('07), forwards Will Nartey ('06) and Steve Kain ('07), Madsen and midfielder Brad Reid ('08).

"We'll look to those guys [to be leaders]," said Mello.

For next year, the team will focus its recruiting efforts to replace what they will be missing most from the graduating seniors.

"We'll get a first-rate striker to go along with what we already have," said Mello, commenting on replacing Henderson. "But we don't just rely on that."

The team will also look to Nartey, who scored five goals with one assist, Kain, who scored three goals with six assists and Kyle Nelson ('07) who scored four goals in the last two games of the regular season along with his one assist, to step up and replace the graduating Henderson, the leading scorer for the Norse this season.

Henderson totaled 10 goals and two assists for 22 points. Behind Henderson were Reinkoester and Hartman with five goals and nine assists for 19 points and five goals and five assists for 15 points, respectively.

Madsen accumulated 79 saves and allowed 23 goals in 1439 minutes for a goals-against average of 1.44 and four shutouts on the season.

In the stat war, the Norse dominated their opponents. The men ended the year outscoring opponents 42-26, outshooting them 290-218 and having a shot percentage 36 points higher. Although the Norse had 10 less saves than opponents, their goals-against average was almost 100 points lower.

Overall, Mello was very happy with the way the Luther soccer program finished the season.

"If you look at Loras and Wartburg's [men's and women's teams], we had a better overall finish," said Mello.

Loras' women ended second and men ended third while Wartburg's women ended third and men ended first.

In order to build the program for next year, the men play competitively during the summer and the coaches focus on recruiting young players.

"We hit the recruiting real hard," said Mello. "We try to match up with students whose academic performance and athletic performance fits our program."

With a young team and a solid returning nucleus, look for the men to begin to take back control of the IIAC next year and for years to come.

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Gabe Gartner

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