Men’s soccer season implodes

Alex Weck

The great tragedies of history: Romeo and Juliet, the Vietnam War, Led Zeppelin’s recording of the album Presence. To this list, the following shall forever be added: St. Norbert 4, Lawrence 0.
The sky shone not blue on the late morning of Friday, Nov. 6. Instead, an ominous gray filled the sky. The St. Norbert Green Knights would take advantage of this condition so frequent on their home field. Less than fifteen minutes into the contest, with Lawrence struggling to remove the ball from their defensive zone, the Knights capitalized off a swilly muddle of a goal by junior AJ Herrman.
Despite this early shake to reality, LU remained inexplicably unsuccessful in their attempts to move the ball upfield. After a second Herrman goal in the 17th minute, the pressure to generate scoring chances increased. The St. Norbert defense did well to detain LU through-ball attacks as well as draw, albeit quite questionably called, fouls. After a third SNC goal was scored in the 28th minute, things began to get ugly.
The Vikings’ frustrations with the score and the officials materialized in a second half of ugliness and unsporting behavior. Four LU players were sent off and cautions were so numerous that they were omitted from the official scorecard. Although somewhat justified by clearly sub par officiating, it was an embarrassing way to end a season. When all the dust and debris settled, St. Norbert walked away from a 4-0 stomping.
Let the hats be tipped to the graduating seniors of this year’s team. Adam Miner, Cris Salvati, Brett Suhayda, and Brendan Marshall-Rashid played an integral part in the team’s rise from the torturous dungeon-fire of the Midwest Conference basement to its status as a legitimate contender.
Next year’s team will come with questions to answer. How will the team compliment the as-of-now unipolar attacking power of Rodrigo Gomes? How will they replace the three graduating fullbacks? Will academic suspensions continue to plague young players? Stay tuned to find the answer to these mysteries.