ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -- The Augsburg University men's soccer team's season came to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 loss at Bethel University, falling just shy of a berth in the six-team conference postseason playoffs.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Bethel 2, Augsburg 0
LOCATION: Ona Orth Athletic Complex, Arden Hills, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 10-3-5 overall (3-3-4 MIAC), Bethel 9-8-1 overall (5-5-0 MIAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Bethel scored a pair of goals in the opening 19 minutes to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Royals outshot the Auggies by an 11-7 margin, despite Augsburg holding a 54-to-46-percent advantage in possession time.
• Nick Zuchowski (SR, Wales, Wis./Kettle Moraine HS) had the lone shot on-goal for Augsburg in the game.
• Oscar Herrera (SO, Madison, Wis./Madison West HS) had one save in goal.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• The game marked the final collegiate contest for six Augsburg seniors -- Zuchowski, Varney Conneh II (SR, Anoka, Minn./Champlin Park HS), Alex Giles (SR, Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights HS), Tyler Johnson (SR, St. Paul, Minn./Como Park HS), Kobby Owu (SR, Vadnais Heights, Minn./Como Park HS) and Toby Reinsma (SR, Grand Rapids, Mich./The Potter's House HS).
• It marks the 10th time in head coach Greg Holker's 19 seasons that Augsburg has recorded 10 or more wins in a season.
FOR THE FOES
• Lucas U. Johnson scored both goals for Bethel, in the sixth and 19th minutes.
• Bethel goalkeeper Juan Valdivia Cortes had one save.
QUOTES FROM AUGSBURG HEAD COACH GREG HOLKER
• "Congratulations to Bethel and Jeremy and his staff. Clearly we want to be moving forward, but there isn't a better guy -- or as deserving -- as Jeremy is."
• "I think the game was pretty telling of our season. We knew what they were capable of on their long throw-ins and corners, and we have struggled when we concede goals from those early in games. To give up a long throw just five minutes in was a bit of a psychological hit on us, and then to concede the corner 12 minutes later was brutal. We knew we could come back, but we dug such a deep hole for ourselves."
• "It's only the second time we haven't scored a goal, and in both games we missed a penalty kick. I thought Mizael Harris had earned another one, but the referee didn't call it. Regardless, we had a few chances, through Mitchel Munzing's shot from the top of the box that just curled wide to Kebba Janneh uncharacaterically missing one from close range in the first half. Kobby had a volley that he slammed over as well. There was a period around the PK miss where I thought we could have had 3-4 goals, but we weren't sharp enough in those moments. With a 2-0 lead, Bethel could play with more numbers in the back and clog up the game and they did a great job of it."
• "I think we are all in shock that we are in this position with the group we have. We took points from all the ranked teams we played, were undefeated at home, and enjoyed the way that we played. Clearly we need a bit more, and moving forward our staff will identify players that can meet our needs and continue to improve our roster."
• "I want to thank our outgoing players for all that they have given to our program in their time here, and for their care of our program culture. I am going to miss those guys with all my heart. We're losing some incredible talent and more importantly, some amazing young men."
