Park’s varsity boys’ soccer team’s season came abruptly to an end on Oct. 17 with a 5-1 loss to the Wayzata Trojans in Section finals. The loss left the team with a 9-4-1 record in the regular season.

Junior midfielder Ben Klepfer said the loss was hard to deal with for him and the rest of the team.

“It’s tough, but I think we played our hearts out for most of the game. I thought we gave it our all,” Klepfer said.

Assistant head coach Pat Hartman filled in as head coach in place of Chato Alvarado, who was unable to attend. Hartman said Wayzata had an advantage in the overall size of the school.

“I think one of the biggest things is we have about 1,400 kids in our high school, they have about 3,400, right, so they got a heck of a lot more kids to choose from,” Hartman said.

Junior captain Zinedine Kroeten said he was proud of the team for being able to hold a 1-1 tie with Wayzata for a good part of the second half.

“We slipped at the end, but I’m just proud to be there with (Wayzata),” Kroeten said. “Scoring goals in tough moments was really hard for us.”

Klepfer said he hoped the team would be able to go further in Sections, but was proud of the team unity that came about at the end of the season.

“Having (the season) end so soon, it kind of sucked, and I mean it must be hard for the seniors as well, and it just sucks losing them,” Klepfer said.

Hartman said taking risks may have been a factor that cost the Orioles the game.

“We had to go for it a bit because we were down by a goal at the end so we took some risks and they capitalized on them,” Hartman said. “The boys should be proud about how they played today.”

Kroeten said the team may not have played their best, but he is not completely surprised by the outcome.

“I feel like we could have played better but (Wayzata is) a really good team, and they deserved to win that one,” Kroeten said.