ERIC THIELE ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
On Saturday, the Knights men’s soccer team defeated Luther at home, 2-1.
In the first half, neither team was able to produce on offensive as Wartburg had five shots, with two of those on goal.
Luther had four shots with one on goal.
In the 51st minute Nate Hedrington found the back of the net, for his second of the week, on an assist from Eric Ruggles to put the Knights up 1-0.
The Norse responded in the 71st minute to tie the match at one.
They took the lead in the 80th minute, 2-1, on a goal by Scott Willits with the assist from Hedrington.
The goal was Willits’ second on the week.
“Nate has had a great week. We always try to push him to be the player we know he can be,” head coach T.J. Buchholz said.
Buchholz also said Willits has been having a great week as well and is very proud of how the team has put together a successful week.
On Wednesday, the Knights defeated Coe, 3-1.
The Knights scored first as Hedrington found the back of the net in the 29th minute.
“[Nate] did the little things against Coe and followed up a rebound off the goalie,” Buchholz said. “It was probably the best week of the season for Nate.”
Coe answered in the 34th minute to tie the match at one.
The Knights responded 21 seconds later, when Willits scored with the assist from Luke Prater to give the Knights the lead, 2-1.
The Knights added a goal in the 37th minute by Brandon Cook, with the assist from Kris Krohn, to put the Knights ahead 3-1.
“It was a great week for Scott as well. He was able to get in the mix to score two goals,” said Buchholz.
The Knights were scheduled to play Dominican on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
However, the match was canceled because of a miscommunication with the officiating.
Buchholz said the match will not be rescheduled.
“I think we have played really well outside of the Loras game. I didn’t think we played the greatest to get the win. We have played really well this week and we are just hoping to pour that over into the conference tourney,” said Buchholz.
Wartburg will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday when they hit the road to face Grinnell at 4 p.m.