Men’s Soccer Clinch First A-R-C Title Since 2013

DECORAH, Iowa – Men’s soccer went on the road and had a hard-fought 1-0 loss against Luther College on Tuesday, Oct. 28. The Knights clinched a share the regular season American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) championship for the first time since 2013.
 
The Knights close the regular season with an overall record of 7-7-2 and an A-R-C record of 5-2-1, while Luther moves to 7-2-7 overall and 4-0-4 in conference play. 
 
Match Summary

• First Half
  
  • Luther applied pressure to the Wartburg defense early with three shots on goal in the first 14 minutes
    • All three attempts were saved by Joseph Svoboda in goal for the Knights

  • Both Lwings Kabula and Landon Hartsell had early shot attempts, but neither could find the target
  • Svoboda made another save in the 26^th minute to keep the match at 0-0
  • Flori Gembo recorded Wartburg’s first shot on goal in the 34^th minute, but the shot was saved by Luther
  • Svoboda made his fifth and sixth saves of the half in the final minutes as the score remained 0-0 after 45 minutes

• Second Half
  • After the Knights defended an early corner kick from Luther, Gembo fired another shot on goal in the 60^th minute but Luther was again able to make the save
  • Wartburg played the rest of the match a man-down after a red card in the 64^th minute
  • The Knights continued to fight hard and defended three Luther shots on goal over the next 16 minutes with three saves from Svoboda
  • Luther continued to attack and finally broke through in the 88^th minute when a strike from Francesco Mungari found the top right corner of the goal to give the Norse a 1-0 lead
    • Wartburg was unable to overcome the deficit and fell to Luther 1-0

 
Top Performers

 
Notes/Streaks

• The Knights clinched their first regular season A-R-C title since the 2013 season
• Wartburg will enter the A-R-C Tournament as the No. 2 seed
  • Will host the highest remaining seed from the first round in the semifinals

• First career regular season championship for the coaching staff of Mike Madigan, Christian Coridon and Ben Smiley
  • Also back-to-back A-R-C Tournament champions

• Luther leads the all-time series 26-20-5
  • The Norse are 13-9-2 at home in this series

• Career high in saves for Svoboda (nine)
• First A-R-C draw of the season
• Fewest shots on goal recorded in a match this season (two)

 
Next Time Out
The Knights will be in action next on Wednesday, Nov. 4 in the A-R-C Tournament semifinals at home against the highest remaining seed from the first round in Waverly, Iowa.