DUBUQUE, IA (November 12, 2012) – North Park’s 2012 men’s soccer season ended on Sunday with a 1-0 loss to number four nationally ranked Loras College in the NCAA Division III regional championship game of the national tournament.
Earlier, North Park earned its best national tournament victory in the history of the program with a 4-1 win over Washington University St. Louis in the opening round and closed out the regular season winning their final six games.
North Park finished the year with a 13-3-5 record, the best under 14th-year head coach John Born since the 2006 season. It was the ninth consecutive season the Vikings earned 10 or more victories.
Sunday’s match could have gone either way with both teams’ defenses clamping down on many scoring chances. Loras did out-shoot North Park 20-11, but senior keeper Tim Ahlberg made six saves in the complete game effort.
Loras put away the lone goal in the 72nd minute when sophomore midfielder Tim van den Bergh fired a shot in the bottom right corner of the net from about 20 yards out. It was his sixth goal of the season and his first game-winning goal.
In the first 20 minutes of the match, both teams fought for position with rough tackles and fouls leading to five yellow cards and later seven total yellow cards in the first half.
Prior to the tournament, five players were named to the All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin soccer team. Seniors Tim Ahlberg and Filip Lindmark along with sophomores Fredrik Greiff and Jonas Pettersson earned First Team All-Conference honors, while junior Jakob Aronsson was named to the Second Team All-Conference.
