Concordias Sarah Saldivar scored the game-tying goal in the second half against Berry on Monday.
Golden Goal Gives Cavaliers 2-1 Win in Second Round of NAIA Championships
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—With the clock showing less than two minutes left before penalty kicks would determine who would advance to the NAIA Women’s Soccer Quarterfinals, Concordia sophomore Kaitlyn Tebbs netted the golden goal to grant the Cavaliers a 2-1 victory over Berry (Ga.) on Monday.
With the win, No. 5 Concordia (21-0-1) moves on the quarterfinals to face No. 4 Azusa Pacific (Calif.) on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Opening kick is set for 11 a.m. (EST) in Daytona Beach.
“We didn’t do a great job of knocking the ball around today but the team showed a lot of character in coming from behind,” Concordia head coach Grant Landy said. “We hadn’t been in that situation this year and there was a little bit of panic, but we settled down and stayed patient.”
After a scoreless first half, Berry (12-8-2), the Southern States Athletic Conference champions, got on the scoreboard first on an unassisted goal by senior Viktoria Frost in the 53rd minute.
The score remained 1-0 until Concordia freshman Sarah Saldivar (Vancouver, Wash.) scored her second goal of the year with a 10-yard arcing boot to the far post in the 72nd minute of play. Turned away from the net, Tebbs (Bend, Ore.) scored an assist on the play with a five-yard touch pass to the charging Saldivar.
It looked like this game was heading to a penalty kick shootout, but Concordia kept their undefeated season alive when Tebbs put the ball in the net with just over a minute remaining in the second overtime session.
Tebbs corralled a corner-kick offering by teammate Caitlin Verhofstadt (Silverdale, Wash.), heading the ball from the opposite side of the pitch and past the Viking defenders. Verhofstadt recorded her 18th assist of the season on the game-winning feed.
“This team has done an excellent job of finishing off halves,” Landy said. “They have always kept the mentality to play the full allotment and it didn’t surprise us that we were able to break through. I don’t think it was our best effort, but if you are to going to win a national championship you will need to have to gut out a few games like this.”
Concordia outshot Berry 20-to-7 in the match. Courtney Weber had three of the Viking’s attempts, all of which were on goal. The CU defense held the three other top scorers for Berry without a shot attempt.
Azusa Pacific (19-2-0) will enter the quarterfinal match after defeating Cal State-San Marcos 3-0. The Cougars have made 11 straight trips to the NAIA women’s soccer championship, finishing as the runner-up squad on three occasions (’02, ’06, ’07) and capturing the title in 1998.
“They (APU) are solid all over the field and have some dangerous frontrunners,” “We are going to have to play a lot better on Wednesday as there will only be a handful of chances and the team that capitalizes on those chances will move on.”
The two teams have met once in postseason play with APU taking a 3-1 win over Concordia in a 2006 semifinal match.
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