The Lawrence Men’s Soccer team season wound down with a 4-1 loss to Beloit last Saturday. The Vikings opened the scoring in the second minute, with Nick Paskert getting on the score sheet for the first time this season. Beloit equalized when Matt Schultz scored midway through the first half and the game remained tied at the half.
In the second half, however, Beloit’s Mike Flanagan took over the game. Flanagan had already provided the assist on Beloit’s first goal. The Number 10 then proceeded to score Beloit’s second and fourth goals, also having a hand in Beloit’s third goal, scored by Aaron Whetstone.
Flanagan scored in the 50th minute, then was involved in the buildup to Whetstone’s strike and Beloit’s third. The two combined again to score Beloit’s fourth goal of the game in the 86th minute. This time Whetstone was the provider for Flanagan to round off the scoring.
With the loss to Beloit the men finished the season with a 2-7 conference record and an overall record of 3-11-2. The team went 2-5-0 at home and 1-6-2 on the road.
While the team managed to score one more goal than last year (16 to 15), they also let in nine more goals (31 to 22). It was the fragility of the defense that cost LU a number of games this season.
Adam Miner finished the season as LU’s top scorer with seven goals to his name, scoring the game winning goals in two of the Vikings’ three wins. Elliott Spruell followed him with four goals.
Miner and Elliot also head the team in point standings. Miner accumulated a total of 15 points, well ahead of Spruell, in second place with eight points.
Miner finished fourth in the conference in both the goals and points category as well. Brian Payne topped the assists charts with three assists over the course of the season.
Despite the number of goals conceded by Lawrence, Tom Murphy had a very good season between the sticks. Murphy was in goal for all three of Lawrence’s wins this season. He made a total of 76 saves in the 12 games he played, while compiling a respectable .817 save percentage.
On the bright side, eight of the team’s 11 losses were by a one goal margin, which indicates the team is a couple of strokes of good fortune away from a winning season.
Also, the current team is a young team and with experience and more playing time together, it should get better and better.