Nov. 5, 2022 – Loras College's men's soccer team's season came to an end on Saturday night as the Duhawks were outlasted 1-0 by the Luther College Norse in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament Championship game on Saturday night.

The top-seeded and regular-season champion Duhawks (10-6-2) earned home field advantage for the game versus the second-seeded Norse (12-3-5), but came up short in a one-score match that sends the Norse on to the NCAA Division III National Tournament with the A-R-C's automatic bid.

Loras and Luther met at the Rock Bowl during the regular season in a lopsided game that saw the Norse win 6-0 and hand the Duhawks what was easily their worst defeat of 2022. Saturday night's contest did not feature the scoring barrage of the first meeting, but instead produced a physical, low-scoring battle.

The game's lone goal came in the 29^th minute as Luther cashed in on a corner kick opportunity. Javier Pastor Valls' pass stayed on the ground as it headed toward the box, where one Luther player deked a shot and let it roll past.

Marcos Vila was waiting for that pass and fired a shot through the crowd and past Duhawk goalkeeper Ben Krogman to put the Norse ahead 1-0. It marked Vila's fourth goal of the year against the Duhawks after he tallied three in the regular-season meeting.

The Duhawks came close to tallying a goal of their own on multiple occasions, including earlier in the half when junior forward Reed Miklavcic scored on a fastbreak play but was whistled for being offside. In the second half, Loras had an attempt hit the left post as senior Kevin Kucaba couldn't get enough on his header attempt to get it over the goal line.

Luther outshot 13-8 in the game while Krogman came up with three saves to keep the Duhawks in contention. The sides were whistled for a combined 21 fouls while five yellow cards were dished out.

Loras is unlikely to earn an at-large berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament, ending their bid for a return trip after advancing to the second round in last year's tournament. The NCAA Division III Selection Show is Monday, Nov. 7 at 12:30 P.M. central time.