CHICAGO, Ill. – Another fantastic season for the Carleton College men's soccer program came to a close as the Knights dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 21-ranked North Park University in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Championships. Justin Crawmer (Jr./Urbandale, Iowa/Waukee) and Blake Jones (Fy./Urbandale, Iowa/Waukee) scored for the Knights.
 
North Park (14-5-0, 8-0-0 CCIW) looked every bit like a team deserving of hosting the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Peder Olsen came into the match as Vikings' all-time leading scorer, adding 15 goals in his senior season. By the 26th minute that tally had gone up by two, with Olsen getting the Vikings to a 2-0 lead.
 
The Knights (13-4-2, 8-2-0 MIAC), coming off their MIAC Playoff Championship, would not go away easily. In the 40th minute, Carleton capitalized on a poor clearance. Owen Flanagan (Fy./San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco University) ultimately took a shot from in front. That attempt was saved, but Crawmer came in to clean up the deflection and cut the deficit in half. The score would remain 2-1 at intermission.
 
Less than five minutes after the intermission, North Park's Isak Flo was taken down in the box, putting Olsen on the penalty stripe, where he converted the chance to complete his hat trick on what would be the game-winning goal.
 
Only eight minutes later, Trevor Jones (Jr./Urbandale, Iowa/Waukee) made a great long pass up to Crawmer down the left side of the field, and the All-MIAC honoree dished it to Blake Jones in the box. Jones took a touch and scored his first collegiate goal in an important spot to again put the Knights down by only a single goal.
 
Carleton would continue their momentum, attempting seven shots in the 20 minutes after Blake Jones' goal, but it was the Vikings who would capitalize in the 78th minute, as Noel Holm found Tobias Lunde on a counter-attack breakaway, and he scored the insurance goal to put the score at 4-2. Carleton would continue putting chances towards the net, but no more scoring was had in the contest.
 
The Knights earned advantages in both total shots (21-8), shots on goal (6-4), and corner kicks (6-2), but it was not enough against the Vikings, who advance to play Washington University (Mo.) in the second round on Sunday afternoon.

Post-game interview with head coach Bob Carlson