The Luther College Men’s Soccer team ended their fall 2025 season with a loss to St. Olaf in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament on November 16. Leading up to this tournament, the soccer team claimed the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Championship title on November 8, making this their first championship win and regular season title win since 2002.
During the match, both teams were scoreless in the opening half. In the 63rd minute, St. Olaf’s Tustin Todd scored a goal. The Norse had chances to score in the 67th minute with an attempt from Ignacio Duenas (‘28) and a shot from Francesco Mungari (‘28) in the 69th minute. Will Elias (‘27) made a scoring attempt in the 84th minute that was also stopped by St. Olaf goalkeeper Jack Hobday. In the game, Luther led St. Olaf in shots overall 13-11, and led 5-3 in shots on goal.
At the end of the season, Luther men’s soccer had a 10-3-7 record, and a 4-0-4 A-R-C record. The team reached the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019.
In a press conference after the St. Olaf game, head coach Chris Garcia-Prats commented on the end of the season for the team.
“Today’s result doesn’t determine the success of our season,” Garcia-Prats said. “It’s tough when you end your season, but the part that hurts the most is ending the family and the group that we’ve got in place.”
In a separate interview with CHIPS, Garcia-Prats shared his comments on what led to the conference win against Wartburg, attributing much of the success to the graduating seniors and the athletes on the field.
“They had an amazing mentality of ‘never giving up’ and we saw that as we had an opportunity on the last day to win the conference and the players executed well to achieve an amazing night in The Valley when we beat Wartburg on the last day of the regular season in exciting fashion,” said Garcia-Prats. “The seniors were amazing in guiding us to our goals; while many weren’t able to help us on the field as much as they would have liked, they continued to keep the group grounded and focused on the team and our task at hand.”
For senior Enzo Leite Mitidieri (‘26), the success of the season comes from the community that the team has established over the year. As a midfielder for the team, Mitidieri made an assist that scored the goal against Wartburg and secured the conference title.
“The coaching staff has always highlighted the importance of building connections and relationships with our teammates,” Mitidieri said. “We have always done some team bonding activities that help us connect as a family. This family aspect made a huge difference in our performance this semester. It helped us trust, care, and push each other on the field with pressing, defending, and attacking together.”
Despite ending the season with a loss, it is the community and family that senior Elijah Lehmann (‘26) will remember after graduating in the spring.
“This is a family and I think it’s really cool to see that that doesn’t end when you stop wearing the kit,” said Lehmann. “As we move on to our next part of our lives we can still be a part of that program and still be a part of that crowd that comes and supports the lads– hopefully in a national tournament.”
