COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --- The Pacific Lutheran Men's Soccer team (13-3-5, 11-1-4 NWC) fell short in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament on Sunday, as the No.5 Colorado College Tigers (16-2-3, 10-0-1) defeated the Lutes, 3-2.
 
Colorado College went right to work in front of their hometown crowd, taking all six of the game's first shots, the two on-target were saved by Lutes senior goalkeeper Nicholas Gaston; one ricocheted off of the crossbar. But the seventh shot by the Tigers in the 18^th minute beat the Lutes defense to take an early 1-0 lead in the game.
 
Senior forward Trevor Thompson fired the first attempt for the Lutes in the 27^th minute, but was halted by the Tigers goalkeeper. Thompson and the Lutes managed to take just one more shot throughout the rest of the first half, as it missed the target out wide. Colorado College led at the break, 1-0.
 
Senior Craig Johnson connected with Thompson immediately to begin the second half, as the high-scoring duo were able to net the equalizer, 1-1. CC regained momentum following the Lutes goal, as they only took 10-minutes to gather the lead once again in the 55^th minute; 2-1 Tigers.
 
Thompson managed just one shot over the next 26-minutes, but the Tigers broke down the Lutes defense by maintaining possession. Colorado College netted an insurance goal in the 81^st minute, making it a 3-2 game late. Cole Dobson and the Lutes offense gave it all they had in the closing minutes, as Dobson found Thompson to make it a 3-2 game in the 87^th minute. It was too-little, too-late, as Colorado College held on to win, 3-2.
 
"Unfortunately, it was not our best day today. Colorado's an excellent team and they caused a lot of problems for us, but we also caused some problems for ourselves. I thought we found our way into the game a little bit and did some really nice things to make the game competitive." Said Head Coach John Yorke following the opening-round loss.
 
 "I thought we gave yourself a chance to potentially find it for ourselves, but in the end, just a couple of indecisive moments and Colorado College capitalized on them. It's hard to win by giving up three goals but proud of our guys by the way they fought this season, proud of our seniors for their careers."
 
"This is an excellent group of human beings, and an excellent group of soccer players. I've got a lot of respect for what they've done, who they are, and how they've approached being a PLU student-athlete."
 
The Tigers out-shot the Lutes on Saturday, 24-5, with 11 of CC's shots on-target and just four of the Lutes finding the frame. All of the Lutes attempts came from senior forward Trevor Thompson (five shots, four on-goal), resulting in his two scores. Senior Goalkeeper Nicholas Gaston ended the day with a total of eight saves, his highest mark this season.
 
Records officially fell on Saturday in Colorado. Thompson's two goals put him in first in career goals (55), just beating out Johnson (52). Thompson also surpassed Johnson in the career points tally, with 143 points, beating out Johnson who has 141. In career assists, Johnson was able to tie the record thanks to his assist to Thompson on Saturday, now holding 37 career assists; Thompson sits alone in fourth with 33. Thompson also took down the single-season goals scored record, formerly 21, and now 23; this also means the single-season points record now belongs to the forward as well, with 58 points on the season. In goal, Gaston ends the season among the leaders in numerous career records as well. The Lutes keeper over the past five seasons ends his career second in Shutouts (23), Goals Against Average (0.94), Saves (288), and Minutes Played (7,296:29).
 
The Men's Soccer season comes to an end after one game in the NCAA Tournament, ending with a 13-3-5 overall record, 11-1-4 record in Northwest Conference play, and an impressive 7-0-2 record on East Field. The Lutes say goodbye to 11 seniors who left their legacy on a PLU Men's Soccer program that saw up to four Northwest Conference titles, three runs in the national tournament.
 
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