Concordia Eliminated from NAIA Tournament
FRESNO, Calif.—Shut out for just the second time this season, the Concordia men’s soccer team saw its season come to an end with a 1-0 loss to No. 9 Hastings College in the second round of the NAIA National Tournament on Tuesday.
The Cavaliers finished the season with a 14-6-2 record while Hastings improved to 19-3-1. The Broncos will move on to the quarterfinals to face No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City.
After Concordia controlled possession for the first few minutes out of the gate, Hastings seized the ball for much of the remainder of the half. Neither team could find the net in the first 45 minutes with the Broncos generating the best scoring chance with less than a minute to go in the half, but watched a 15-yard shot one versus one against Concordia keeper Garrett Staples trickle harmlessly right of the post.
Fifteen minutes into the second period, the Broncos would break through with a 10-yard offering by Josh Moran. With multiple passes through the middle, the Broncos fed the ball to Greg Dobbs on the left side where he fired a 15-yard blast off the crossbar. With the ball traveling nearly perpendicular to the goal line, a ricochet placed the sphere at Moran’s feet, where his adjusted attempt sailed over a block of defenders and just under the crossbar for the 1-0 lead.
The goal would prove to be the game-winner as the Hastings defense failed to yield the final 30 minutes despite a flurry of attacks by the Cavalier offense. Concordia would generate six of its seven corner kicks in the second half, including four in the final 15 minutes, but could not come up with the equalizer.
With seven attempts in each half, Hastings outshot Concordia 14-to-9 but registered just three corners to seven for the Cavaliers.
In their fourth ever appearance in the NAIA tournament, Concordia dropped to 1-4 all-time in national championship matches. Hastings improved to 6-3-1 in five appearances in the tournament.