CU Offense Erupts on Senior Day
BOX SCORE -
Concordia vs. Evergreen
PORTLAND, Ore.—After being shutout in back-to-back contests, the Concordia offense got back on track with an 8-0 win over Evergreen State on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, No. 3-ranked Concordia finished the regular season with a 13-2-2 overall record and a 7-2 mark in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Evergreen, meanwhile, ends its season at 2-11-1 overall and 2-7 in league contests.
The win also locked Concordia into the No. 2 seed in the CCC Tournament, which means Concordia will host the No. 3-seeded Southern Oregon Raiders in the semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 3. Kickoff for that match will be at 7 p.m.
The winner of that match will then play for the tournament championship against the winner of the No. 1 versus No. 4 matchup between regular-season conference champion Northwest and Oregon Tech. The championship match will be played on Saturday, Nov. 10 at the home of the highest-remaining seed.
Besides the playoff implications of Sunday’s win though, the match also sent Concordia’s seven seniors out on a positive note as they played the last regular-season match of their careers. Concordia honored seniors Lauryn Helmers, Robyn Neimann, Jenna Peterson, Indigo Recker, Tori Talbutt, Alex Thomas and Kaylynn Winwood before the match, while all seven of them also got to start the match against the Geoducks.
Thomas and Neimann made their first starts of the season on Sunday, as Thomas started at forward, while Neimann started in the midfield. Thomas, an NAIA All-American last season who has missed the year due to injury, was ceremoniously given the nod and immediately subbed for after the opening kickoff.
Neimann, meanwhile, nearly made an instant impact when she took the team's first shot after getting a breakaway on the left side just 3:03 into the contest. Firing from 20 yards out, Neimann's shot crossed the face of the goal and missed just outside the far post.
While Neimann’s shot missed, it was a sign of things to come for the Cavs, as the team outshot Evergreen 35-6 in the match.
Concordia didn’t break through until its third shot though, when freshman Alicia Alarcon-Evans netted a goal in the 16th minute of the match.
Alarcon-Evans broke through the middle of the field on the play, catching up to a cross from Erin Huisingh that put her face-to-face with Geoduck keeper Kaitlin MacKenzie.
Making a move to her right from 15 yards out, Alarcon-Evans calmly pushed the ball to the back of the net for the goal.
Alarcon-Evan’s score put the Cavs up 1-0 after Evergreen State had threatened with its own chances in the early going.
The Geoducks’ first chance in the ninth minute when Rayna Murphy put a solid strike on the Cavaliers’ goal. Working from the left side, Murphy found space from 15 yards out and delivered a line drive directly into the arms of CU keeper Tori Talbutt.
The Geoducks then threatened again in the 14th minute when they placed several attackers deep in the box, creating a short-lived scrum before the CU defense was able to clear the ball.
Concordia survived both threats from the Geoducks’ though, and then began to take over the match from there. Alarcon-Evans’ goal opened an 18-minute stretch of the match that saw the Cavs outshoot Evergreen State 9-0. The ninth shot of that stretch came from junior Hannah Scott in the 34th minute and gave Concordia its second goal of the match.
Sophomore Annika Hayman fed Scott on the play, giving her a perfectly placed ball up the left flank. Scott then took Hayman’s pass to the upper corner of the box and launched a bending strike from 24 yards out into the upper right corner of the net.
Scott’s score gave the Cavs a two-goal lead, though Evergreen would generate its best scoring opportunity of the match just a few minutes later. Evergreen’s Shani Remento gave her team the chance as she launched a free kick on goal from 35 yards out. With the trajectory aiming slightly below the crossbar, the Cavs’ Talbutt reached up for a slight touch on the ball to prevent the goal. The ball did not clear the crossbar however, instead bouncing straight down, right in front of the goal line.
Fortunately for the Cavs, Recker was the first to the ball and cleared it before the ball could trickle in for a score.
Once free of that, the Cavaliers went back on the attack and forced an own goal with just over three minutes before halftime. Scott put the pressure on the Geoducks’ defense that led to the own goal, as she sent a cross deep into the box that got played into the net.
That play capped an impressive, three-goal first half for the Cavaliers, but the Cavs would come out even stronger in the second half.
Concordia scored five goals after halftime, the most of any half this season.
The Cavs’ strong second half started early too, as the team scored two goals in the first 5:21 of the period.
Peterson scored the first of the two early goals in the second half, as she got a short pass from Huisingh at the top left corner of the box that she played across the ground to the far post, giving Peterson, a two-time All-American defender, the fourth goal of her Concordia career.
Huisingh then followed Peterson’s score with one of her own just over a minute and a half later. Ariel Kanable started the opportunity for Huisingh, as she sent a long pass up the right flank to Alarcon-Evans. Alarcon-Evans then dribbled the ball deep up the right side of the field before crossing it to Huisingh, who finished the play with a small touch from five yards out.
The two early goals helped open the flood gates for the Cavalier offense in the second half, as the Cavs would tack on three more goals before the match was finished.
Alarcon-Evans scored her second goal and the sixth of the match for Concordia in the 64th minute after getting a short pass from junior Hannah Kimsey.
Kimsey then assisted on the Cavs’ next goal too, as she and Hayman teamed up to feed Scott for her second score of the match. The play followed a similar progression as Huisingh’s goal, as Kimsey passed the ball out wide to Hayman on the left flank where Hayman than sent a cross into a crowd near the face of the goal. That’s where Scott found the ball, and the junior forward put a small touch on the ball to finish the play from there.
Finally, Kanable tacked on the Cavs’ last score of the match with her first career goal as a Cavalier. Kanable had recorded her first career assist on Huisingh’s goal earlier in the match, but got her first goal of the season with just 2:11 left on the clock.
Scott assisted on the play this time, as she sent a cross into the middle of the box to Hayman. Hayman couldn’t get a solid touch to direct the ball on goal however, so she flicked it to Kanable who was waiting on the far post. Kanable then finished the play from point-blank range, capping the scoring in the match at 8-0.
The eight goals were a season high for the Cavaliers, a stadium record and the most by a CU team since the Cavaliers defeated Evergreen 9-0 at home on Oct. 15, 2010.