Cavs Upend St. Ambrose in Opening Round of NAIA Championships

11/22/2008 8:23:59 PM

BEAVERTON, Ore.—With a combined four goals by Jessica Ramback and Shea Miller, the undefeated Concordia women’s soccer team defeated St. Ambrose 5-1 in the opening round of the NAIA National Championships played at the Tualatin Hills Park and Rec Center on Saturday.

With the win, Concordia (20-0-1) will move on to the second round of play to face No. 12 seeded Berry (Ga.). In another opening round match, Berry defeated King (Tenn.) 5-4 in penalty kicks after playing 110 minutes of scoreless action.

The final four round of the women’s bracket will be contested in Daytona, Fla., with the NAIA title contest concluding tournament on Dec. 6.

“I thought we were very sharp the first 20 minutes of play,” Concordia head coach Grant Landy said. “It was ST. Ambrose’s first time in the tournament and with them playing away from home we knew a quick start against a team like that makes their job even more challenging and we wanted to capitalize on that.”

Ramback (Mill Creek, Wash) got the Cavs on the board in the 5th minute of action with a five-yard tap to the far post after receiving the ball from teammate Caitlin Verhofstadt (Silverdale, Wash.).
With just over seven minutes elapsing on the clock, CU freshman Brittany Orr (Federal Way, Wash.) doubled the Cavalier advantage with seven-yard chip shot over St. Ambrose keeper Erica Inendino (Sherman, Ill.).

Keeping the attack going, Miller (Azalea, Ore.) got into the act by converting with a header played into the box by Verhofstadt in the 18th minute.

It’d take nearly 50 minutes for the score to alter again as Ramback found the net for the second time of the day, and 20th of the season, with a 25-yard lob shot over the charging goalkeeper. Miller would quickly match the effort with her second goal of the match, another successful header via another Verhofstadt corner kick.

With under two minutes to play, St. Ambrose would break the shutout with a Kelsey Carroll (Davenport, Iowa) boot following a scramble in front of the net at the 88:13 mark.

“Ramback played very well today, and not just the scoring. She was really sharp and working hard off the ball,” Landy said. “Shea is fearless in the air and has been scoring goals like that all year long while Caitlin continues to prove that she is one of the best that we have ever had at serving dangerous crosses.”

Concordia outshot the visiting Queen Bees 20-to-4 with all four of St. Ambrose’s attempts coming in the second period. The Cavs generated seven corner kicks to four for St. Ambrose.

Inendino stopped seven shots in the losing effort while CU keeper Georgie Christensen (Hillsboro, Ore.) picked up the win after collected one save and allowing the single goal

“We are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Landy said. “One of our goals was to get to the final site where anything can happen. We are going to go down there and do what we have been doing all year.”