Men's soccer All-Conference awards announced
Monday, November 10, 2008

ST. PAUL (Nov. 10, 2008) – 32 men’s soccer players from their respective Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) teams were recognized for their play this season on Monday, earning all-conference honors. The College of St. Scholastica, who claimed back-to-back conference championships this year and last, received the most selections with seven, including five first team accolades.

The University of Minnesota, Morris, who claimed the conference tournament title for the second year in a row while earning second place in the regular season, had six individuals recognized. Third place Presentation College also had six representatives on the list. Fourth place Northwestern College added five all-conference selections.

Brent Diggs, a junior from Minnesota, Morris, was selected as the UMAC Player of the Year. Diggs scored a league-high 15 goals in UMAC games this year while leading the Cougars to a 11-3 conference record (18-4 overall).

Minnesota, Morris head coach Christian DeVries was selected as the league’s Coach of the Year. In three years, DeVries, who has been the team’s only head coach, has directed the Cougars to a 11-3-0 UMAC record after beginning the program at 3-7-4 in 2006.

See below for a full listing of the 2008 men’s soccer all-conference awards.

1st Team All-Conference

Name, Institution, Year, Position
Joe Nuah, Bethany Lutheran, Freshman, Forward
Felipe Ortega, Bethany Lutheran, Sophomore, Midfielder
Dustin James, St. Scholastica, Sophomore, Midfielder
Ian Linder, St. Scholastica, Sophomore, Defender
Bryan Olson, St. Scholastica, Freshman, Defender
Toby Peter, St. Scholastica, Sophomore, Midfielder
Sam Reed, St. Scholastica, Freshman, Goalkeeper
Nathan Budish, Crown, Senior, Defender
Jon Schultz, Crown, Freshman, Forward
Philip Kurbis, Martin Luther, Senior, Forward
Zac Pudlo, Martin Luther, Senior, Midfielder
Tyler Drinkwine, Northland, Freshman, Forward
Chris Applegate, Northwestern, Junior, Defender
Ben Haugen, Northwestern, Junior, Defender
Jake Schweitz, Northwestern, Sophomore, Midfielder
Nick Becker, Presentation, Senior, Forward
Collin Heupel, Presentation, Junior, Midfielder
Andrew Peterson, Presentation, Sophomore, Defender
Joe Romero, Presentation, Sophomore, Goalkeeper
Brent Diggs *, Minnesota, Morris, Junior, Forward
Kelsey Dueer, Minnesota, Morris, Junior, Midfielder
Patrick O’Connor, Minnesota, Morris, Junior, Midfielder
Tyler Simpson, Minnesota, Morris, Sophomore, Goalkeeper

Honorable Mention All-Conference

Name, Institution, Year, Position
Jermaine Dacres, St. Scholastica, Sophomore, Midfielder
Greg Doornick, St. Scholastica, Sophomore, Midfielder
Evan Chartrand, Martin Luther, Junior, Defender
Calvin Kanowitz, Northwestern, Senior, Forward
Phil Lodien, Northwestern, Senior, Midfielder
Tim Haiar, Presentation, Junior, Defender
Brandon Spanier, Presentation, Freshman, Forward
Greg Borchers, Minnesota, Morris, Freshman, Defender
Justin O’Connor, Minnesota, Morris, Junior, Defender

Men’s soccer falls short in last game of the season
Saturday, November 01, 2008

Joseph Baer

Mankato, Minn. – The ball didn’t bounce the Bethany men’s soccer team’s way on Saturday afternoon and they lost their last game of the year to Martin Luther College, 4-0.

The offensive pressure and quality scoring chances came from the Vikings early in the game, but a shot off the crossbar and a couple good saves kept the ball from going in. On the other end of the field, the Martin Luther Knights managed to capitalize on their chances and scored their first goal in minute 27 off the foot of Zac Pudlo. Then in the second half, Martin Luther added three more goals including two in the last three minutes to exaggerate the score of the closely contended match. Philip Kurbis scored two of the goals for Martin Luther and added an assist. Andy Danner also scored in the victory for the Knights.

William Tatge (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) played goalkeeper for Bethany and made eight saves on 12 Martin Luther shots. Alex Vandenberg got the shutout in goal for the Knights by making five saves.

With the victory, Martin Luther improved to 9-7-2 (6-6-2 UMAC) for the season. The Bethany men finish the year with a split against the Knights and a record of 5-14-1 (3-11-0 UMAC).

Men’s soccer suffers 4-0 defeat to Northwestern
Saturday, October 25, 2008

Joseph Baer

Mankato, Minn – The Bethany men’s soccer team, playing without a few starters, didn’t have enough firepower to contend with Northwestern College on Saturday afternoon. Subsequently, the Vikings fell in a 4-0 loss.

Everything went right for the Eagles in the victory. They received scores in almost all ways possible, including a free kick from midfield. Matt Olsen scored two of the goals for Northwestern, while Calvin Kanowitz and Peter Gess added a goal as well. Assists for the Eagles came from Lucas Asmus, Ben Haugen, Dan Schumann, and starting goalkeeper Danny King.

Northwestern played three goalkeepers, but the starter and aforementioned King played the first 68 minutes and made one save in the victory. William Tatge (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) started in net for the Vikings and was later replaced by Cameroon Koopman (Phelps, wis./Phelps). Tatge, in the first 71 minutes of play, made one save. Koopman came in and stopped five of six shots to finish the game.

Northwestern College improves to 7-9-2 (6-4-2 UMAC) while the loss drops the Bethany men to 5-12-1 (3-10 UMAC). The Vikings will continue their season when they host a non-conference game against St. Olaf on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Early penalties plague men's soccer
Friday, October 24, 2008

Joseph Baer

Mankato, Minn. – The Bethany men’s soccer team lost a heartbreaker on Friday against Crown College. A few tough breaks including an early red and two Crown penalty kicks led to a 3-2 overtime loss for the Vikings.

The game became heated pretty fast when a good offensive play led to a Bethany defensive breakdown and a player of the Storm found himself an open chance in front of the Bethany net. Bethany defensive player Brent Fassett (Alexandria, Minn/Jefferson) was the only one who could have stopped the shot and did, but the official ruled against him and said he intentionally and illegally stopped a goal from scoring. The tough red card to Fassett led to a penalty kick for Crown, which Nathan Budish made good on.

Bethany was a man down but did not give up; Jeff Huber (Clearwater, Minn./West Lutheran) answered five minutes after the Crown goal in minute 12 when he blasted a shot by the goalie. The play was set-up by Joe Nuah (St. Paul, Minn./Arlington). However, another penalty in the box would put Vikings in another tight spot, and Nathan Budish did the same as his first attempt and put a penalty kick in the corner past the Bethany goalkeeper. Playing down by one, the Vikings fought back and scored a game tying goal when Evans Tackie-Yarboi (West Jordan, Utah/ Cooper Hills) sent a picture perfect cross to Josh Jensen (St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter), who ultimately finished the play with a goal past the keeper. The two teams went into overtime tied at two. Overtime was short lived. At 5:54 in the extra period, a Crown corner kick led to a mess in front of the Bethany net and the ball went off of a Bethany player and in for the Storm’s game winner.

William Tatge (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) played solid in net for the Vikings in the loss. Tatge only surrendered the two penalty kick goals and a tough own goal to finish off his day. He made 18 saves. Crown’s goalkeeper was Jay Clementson. Clementson made two saves on four shots on goal.

The Bethany men now drop to 5-11-1 (3-9-0 UMAC) for the season, while Crown improves to 6-9 (4-7 UMAC) with the victory. Bethany will have a chance to redeem themselves at home against Northwestern College on Saturday. The men’s match starts at 2 p.m.