Boys’ soccer loses in section finals

Loss prevents advancement to state

Junior Max Kent shows his disappointment after Park’s 2-4 loss to Wayzata on Oct. 14 during section finals.

Neda Salamzadeh

Despite the boys’ best efforts to continue on to the class AA State soccer tournament, the team lost to Wayzata Oct. 14 at Wayzata High School.

Assistant coach Pat Hartman said he is proud of the performance and leadership the boys put forth throughout the season.

“I think it was a pretty successful season. The boys really gelled well, we had a lot of really talented players, and when they worked well together, they played well,” Hartman said.

Senior varsity defender Graham Larson said he is proud of the team, but thinks they could have played better.

“At some points we played really well, and at some points we didn’t play very well at all,” Larson said.

“A weakness was that we didn’t create enough scoring opportunities for the strikers,” Larson said.

Varsity sophomore defender Daniel Decker said he saw lack of composure and communication in the second half of the game as the breaking point.

“After the other team scored two consecutive goals we started to break down. We pushed people up to get a goal, but couldn’t because we weren’t composed enough and weren’t connecting,” Decker said.

According to Decker, although the team is disappointed with the loss, players are proud of the season as a whole.

“We had a good season overall,” Decker said. “I am still disappointed by the fact that I know we could’ve won and gone to State, but we just didn’t get the result. Those of us left just have to put this behind us and get better for next season.”