On Saturday, Oct. 25, the Men’s Soccer team shut down Beloit College in the first of two weekend games. The Vikings won a very hard-fought match at their own Whiting Field against the Bucs.
The first half consisted of fast-paced and high-pressure play by both teams. Neither team was able to find the back of the net during the first 45 minutes. Being a Midwest Conference (MWC) match-up, both teams were hungry for the win.
Just 18 minutes into the second half, Lawrence was able to get on the board. Senior Joe Cullen shot a rocket into the back of the net from point-blank range on assists from freshman Sodai Ishii and sophomore Mike Deremo.
Not even 10 minutes later, freshman Lewis Berger scored off of sophomore Nick Huth’s rebound. His first career goal gave Lawrence the 2-0 lead over the Buccaneers.
Lawrence sealed the victory in the 77th minute of play, when senior Santiago Alvarez scored again for the Vikings on an assist from sophomore Dominic Pasquesi. Overall, Lawrence out-shot Beloit 24-2.
This impressive offensive performance was mirrored by amazing defensive play from the Vikings’ sophomore goalkeeper Joe Krivit. Krivit made an outstanding save to give Lawrence a shut-out win. This game was the Vikings last MWC match of the season, leaving them with a record of 2-6-2 in conference play and an eighth place standing.
While conference play may have come to a close, the Vikings still had another game to play. On Monday, Oct. 27, the Vikings traveled down to River Forest, Ill. to take on the Cougars of Concordia University Chicago.
The game started in a similar fashion to the Beloit game. Again, the first half consisted mostly of back-and-forth play. With just 39 seconds left in the first half, senior Ollie Newsom scored for the Vikings off of a penalty kick, giving them the 1-0 lead heading into the second half.
Just under 15 minutes into the second half, Berger scored an unassisted goal for the Vikings, making it his second goal of the weekend. Five minutes later, senior captain Cameron Pieper scored off an assist from Newsom to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead.
But the Cougars were on their heels, trying to make a come-back. They were able to get one point off of a goal scored by DeAndrew McLaurin. With that, the Vikings walked away with their second win of the weekend, and their third win of the season.
The soccer season is coming to a close with the last game this Saturday, Nov. 1, at 12 pm against UW-Superior.