The Dominican University men's soccer team carried a 2-1 lead deep into the second half until a pair of late goals for the Luther College Norse put a stop to the Stars season, 3-2, in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship. With the loss, the Stars close out the 2018 season with an overall record of 15-6-1, qualifying for the NCAA national tournament for the 15
th time since becoming eligible for NCAA Division III postseason play in 2002.
"This is a tough loss to swallow after losing the lead late in the game," said Erick Baumann, the Stars' long-time head coach. "We knew they were going to have a strong push but unfortunately we didn't handle it as well as we would have liked. With that said, we had a great season. This is a very tight-knit group of players that were bought into each other and what we wanted to do as a program. I am proud of my staff and players. We have been here before and will be here again."
Dominican answered an early Luther goal with a pair of unanswered goals before the end of the first half.
Isaac Perez, riding a streak of seven consecutive matches with either a goal or an assist entering the night, leveled the score in the 18
th minute, placing a low shot through traffic inside the right post. Perez then picked up an assist in the 41
st minute, serving a ball into the box that found the head of freshman
Jonathan Hernandez for the rookie's tenth goal of the season.
Dominican protected the lead all the way until the 76
th minute when Aidan O'Driscoll beat Dominican's
Daniel Dominguez for the equalizer. The Norse continued to press forward looking for the game-winner, eventually capitalizing on a Dominican miscue inside the six-yard box before Brunno Colon knocked in the game-winner with just 91 seconds to play.
The Norse outshot the Stars for the match, 19-12 which included a 10-5 advantage in the second half when Luther was forced to press forward while chasing the scoreboard. Dominguez made five saves for Dominican in the loss.
For the Stars, the loss snaps a seven-game winning streak and nine-match unbeaten streak dating back to October tenth and Dominican's 15 wins in 2018 is the most for the program since going 18-3-1 in 2012.
