Dream season ends for Parker

Rather than rue what might have been, the Francis Parker soccer players walked off the field at North Central College Saturday following their 2-0 loss to Rochester in the Class A third place match celebrating what they had accomplished.

Waterloo Gibault (15-12) won its third straight title by defeating Winnebago 3-2 in penalty kicks.

By finishing fourth, the Colonels (17-8-2) earned their school’s first state trophy in any team sport, and even two losses on the season’s final day couldn’t put a damper on that.

‘‘Parker has never gone to state before and to get fourth out of the whole state is incredible,’’ Parker junior defender Zac Polonus said. ‘‘We’re all proud of ourselves. We had a great season and we’re happy.’’

The Colonels’ championship dreams died with a 5-1 semifinal loss to Winnebago. Parker actually took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Zac Ginsburg in the 13th minute, but the Indians (23-3-3) tied it on an own goal with 1:04 left in the first half. Defensive lapses by Parker allowed Winnebago to score three times in the first 12 minutes of the second half.

‘‘We sort of lost our groove after they scored that first goal in the second half,’’ Polonus said. ‘‘We started playing flat.’’

Things didn’t get any better against Rochester (20-6-3), which received goals from T.J. Keys in the 16th minute and

Jacob Cullen in the 74th minute. The Rockets outshot a fatigued Parker 14-6.

‘‘The last game I was pretty much dead, but you’ve got to fight through it,’’ said defender Sam Mintz, one of two freshman starters for Parker. ‘‘That’s what we tried to do. The end result didn’t show it, but I think we all tried 100 percent.’’

With eight starters returning, the Colonels think this was just the end of the beginning.

‘‘It’s great to be the first team to finally do this,’’ Mintz said. ‘‘It gives us some confidence to come back next year and do it.’’

‘‘We’ve gotten to state,’’ Polonus said. ‘‘Now we can set our goals further.’’