The men’s soccer team suffered a crushing end to what had been a rather disappointing season after losing to Gustavus Adolphus in last Saturday’s MIAC championship final. The Gusties, ranked tenth in NCAA Division III soccer, defeated the Scots 3-0.

The game remained scoreless for the first half, with the Scots managing to keep the ball in Gustavus’ territory. However, after the teams switched sides for the second half, the strong wind that had been blowing the whole game worked against Macalester, as the Scots spent nearly the entire half battling Gustavus on their own side of the field.

After a number of close calls, Gustavus finally managed to sneak one by keeper Ryan Palmer ’08 in the 63rd minute of play. With just under nine minutes left in the game, the Scots saw another goal hit the back of their net following a one-two by the Gusties in the penalty box. With the Scots’ hopes already failing, the Gusties scored their third goal off a penalty kick with three minutes left in play. A foul by Michael Dannenberg ’05 led to the penalty kick.

While the game against Gustavus was certainly a disappointment for the Scots, the loss was not a total surprise given the Scot’s underachieving season. In an overtime battle with St. Thomas early in the season, the Scots suffered their first regular-season conference loss since 2000. A few games later, Mac was shut out by St. Olaf 0-3, and in late October, the Scots lost to Gustavus 0-1 in double overtime. With three conference losses, this year’s team suffered the most conference losses since 1994.

The Scots had hoped for much more than a second-place MIAC finish, as the team graduated just one player last year, all-American midfielder Nathan Knox ’04. This year’s team was rich in skill and experience and had a number of very talented juniors and seniors. This potential often did not materialize, however, and the players do not seem to know why. “Relative to talent and experience on the team, we underachieved,” defender Ian Ritz ’06 said. “We have more skill than last year.”

Brendan Viele ’05 agreed with Ritz. “We knew we had a really talented team the whole year,” he said, “but the team was hit with a number of injuries.”

Goalkeeper Tom Kleczewski ’05, who Viele identified as a strong team leader, fell victim to a sciatic nerve injury early in the season. In the final MIAC home game, powerful sweeper Stewart Peacock ’05, midfielder Magnus Oppenheimer ’07, and defender Devin Homme ’06 also watched the game from the sidelines.

Overall, however, the players seem to agree that regardless of the injuries, the team simply did not play to its potential this season. While the team loses a number of key players to graduation this year, the bench is a deep one, and players appear optimistic about next year.