Thanks to Dr. Jeff Nelson for the pictures
CHICAGO, Ill. – The North Park men's soccer team will be one of the final sixteen teams playing in the tournament after a 3-1 win over the No. 3 Washington University-St. Louis Bears Sunday afternoon at the Holmgren Athletic Complex. North Park's three goals against the NCAA's fourth-stingiest defense was the most anybody had scored on the Bears all season.
After twenty minutes of action, the Vikings were able to get on the scoresheet first. Tobias Lunde sent a perfect ball to Isak Flo who was streaking right through the heart of the WashU defense. A Bears defender took down Flo from behind to prevent a possible goal from the freshman. The ball still ended up trickling across the WashU goal line, but the ref had blew the whistle and signaled for a penalty kick prior, which forced NPU to step up to the penalty spot to earn the first goal of the game. Peder Olsen stepped up to take it and converted the PK as WashU's Matt Martin dove the wrong way.
The Bears didn't need too long to find an answer as a hard shot from Owen Culver was fired in 13 minutes later that was saved by Alfred Sward. The rebound fell on a platter for Eugene Heger who stabbed the ball in the back of the net to equalize the score at one.
Halftime: North Park 1, WashU 1
Whatever Kris Grahn said to the Vikings at halftime, it worked. Two minutes into the frame, Noel Holm sliced through the Bears defense before sliding the ball forward to the foot of Jesse Anamoo who split the wickets of Martin for a 2-1 advantage.
A foul by the Bears eight minutes later let Olsen set up for a free kick 40 yards from goal. The lefty sent in a ball that Anamoo redirected in front of the goal for Lunde to smack in the back of the net for a two-goal lead for North Park.
The frustration boiled over for WashU in the 61st minute when they went down to ten men after Nolan Wolf received his second yellow card of the contest. From there, the backline of William Bostrom-Rydfjall, Kristoffer Risnes, and Christian Vaaland was impenetrable allowing only one shot on goal in the final half-hour of the game.
Final: North Park 3, WashU 1
What's Next?
The Vikings battle the Oles of St. Olaf College this coming Friday, November 19, at 1 PM CST. The game will be played on the campus of the University of Chicago. A win would match them up with the winner of UChicago vs Calvin. The Oles defeated the Dominican by a score of 3-0 and Loras by a score of 4-0 in their first two rounds.
