After an exciting double-overtime conference win against Grinnell last week, the Vikings were looking to build off of new-found momentum and hopefully get two more wins. Following a long bus ride to North Central College in Naperville Illinois, Lawrence gave up the one and the only goal of the game in the 75th minute, resulting in a 1-0 loss.
North Central out-shot the Vikings 15 to 6. With a long bus ride ahead of them, the Vikings had plenty of time to focus on the mistakes they made against North Central and build off their loss in time for the game versus Carroll.
Against Carroll, the Vikings looked to remain undefeated in conference. The game appeared promising for the first 20 minutes, until Carroll scored in the 21st minute for the go-ahead goal. The Vikings held them for the rest of the half, but once the second half started, the Vikings faltered.
Two minutes into the second half, the Pioneers scored again, giving them a 2-0 lead. Again they scored in the 79th minute and one last time with 30 seconds left in the game. The Vikings were out-shot in this game as well, 5 to 16. Several key players were injured during the game, affecting Lawrence’s ability to counter Carroll’s early lead.
Hopefully the team can heal, move forward and win more games in the second half of the season. The Vikings were 1-1 in conference after Saturday, Oct. 1 and had another conference game Wednesday, Oct. 5 against St. Norbert College.
When asked about how they can build off of the Carroll game, sophomore Daniel O’Mahoney, stated, “The Carroll game wasn’t our best, but we learned from it and going into the St. Norbert game we want to control the midfield and get into the attacking third and get into the attacking third and score.”
Finishing is key for the Vikings: They have only scored five goals in 10 games. The Vikings are home again Saturday, Oct. 15, so come out and cheer them on to a conference victory! The game starts at 3:30 p.m.