DECORAH, Iowa - Beloit College stayed in the match for 68 minutes at Luther College Soccer Field this evening before Luther scored three goals in just over three minutes and held on for a 3-1 win. Ervin Rosas scored a late goal for the Buccaneers, but it wasn't enough. Beloit fell to 1-13-1 overall and 1-4-1 in conference play, while Luther improved to 7-2-2 and 5-0-1 in conference.
Luther controlled the early going, outshooting Beloit 5-0 in the first half and earning three corner kicks to Beloit's one. Buccaneers goalkeeper David Staats (Meridian, ID) kept the match scoreless, making two first-half saves, on Teegan Sieverding in the 39th minute and Lucas Rojas in the 44th. The Buccaneers went into the break level at 0-0.
Staats played all 90 minutes and finished with four saves. He made two more in the second half, stopping Francesco Mungari in the 69th minute and David Barlecaj in the 83rd.
The scoreless match turned in the 69th minute, when Luther's Ignacio Duenas scored on an assist from Nels Mortenson. Mungari followed at 70:35 and again at 71:54, and the Norse led 3-0 in just 3 minutes and 18 seconds.
Beloit did not go quietly. In the 79th minute, Rosas came back onto the field and scored almost immediately, finishing off an assist from Kenji Taira for his ninth goal of the season. It cut the deficit to 3-1 and gave the Buccaneers some late momentum. Rosas finished with one shot, one shot on goal, and one goal.
Taira, who played 52 minutes, picked up the lone assist for Beloit.
Daniel Abreu led the Buccaneers' attack with three shots, two on target. He took Beloit's first shot of the match in the 56th minute. In the 82nd minute he put two shots on goal within three seconds of each other, but Luther goalkeeper Blair Nelsen saved both.
Marco Jijon (Wilmette, IL), Nicholas Williams (Fenton, MO), Miles Morrow and Nick Kingpavong all played the full 90 minutes, and Juan Calzada (Madison, Wis.) logged 88. The Buccaneers were outshot 14-4 overall, but they put 3 of their 4 shots on target and committed 7 fouls to Luther's 12. They also earned two corner kicks to Luther's three and finished with 42 percent of possession.
The Buccaneers remain on the road this weekend when they head to Lake Forest, Illinois for a clash with the Foresters. Kick off from Mohr Field is set for 11 am on Saturday morning.
