CU's Erin Huisingh scored in the early minutes against Hastings (Neb.) on Friday.
Concordia Earns 2-0 Win over No. 12 Hastings at Cavalier Cup
BOX SCORE -
#2 Concordia vs. #12 Hastings
PORTLAND, Ore.—Playing their most complete match of the season so far, the No. 2-ranked Concordia Cavaliers beat the No. 12 Hastings Broncos 2-0 in the second match of the Cavalier Cup on Friday.
Concordia’s offense dominated the match with the Cavs (3-0-0) totaling a 22-to-3 advantage in shots and a remarkable 18-to-0 advantage in corners.
The Cavaliers’ aggressive play let them possess the ball for most of the match, which left the Broncos (0-1-0) without a shot on goal.
In addition, Friday’s dominant win tasted a little sweeter than normal for the Cavaliers, as many of the team’s upperclassmen remember that Hastings upset them in the second round of the NAIA tournament two season ago when the Cavs were the No. 1 seed.
“It was definitely an emotional game for us,” said CU head coach Grant Landy. “Our team wanted this one pretty bad.”
Concordia started hot too, as sophomore Erin Huisingh connected on the Cavs’ first goal in just the fourth minute of the match.
“I was really happy to see Erin score tonight,” said Landy. “She’s been working really hard for us in practice and really deserved it.”
Senior Kaylynn Winwood started the play that led to the goal, passing the ball up to sophomore Ashley Ames on the right side. Ames took it deep up the right side from there, before passing into Huisingh in the middle of the box. Huisingh fielded the pass on the run and chipped the ball to the upper right corner of the goal from seven yards out.
With the goal, the Cavs went up 1-0 before the fans had even settled in their seats. However, the Cavaliers fought off any possible early-lead complacency and maintained their relentless attack on the Broncos.
The Cavs earned 11 corners in the first half alone and had more chances then their 10 first-half shots would imply. Concordia’s attack frequently caused the Hastings defense to clear the ball deep in their own box, leading to several of the Cavs’ corners.
“When we earn that many corners in a match, that means we’re doing a great job of attacking the goal,” said Landy. “It would have been nice to tack on another goal off of one of those corners, but we’ll work on that in practice. It’s more important that we give ourselves the opportunity, and we did that really well tonight.”
Once in the second half, the Cavaliers maintained their high level of play, tacking on six shots on goal in the final 45 minutes.
Concordia finally connected on its second goal of the match in the 79th minute when Alicia Alarcon-Evans and Ashley Ames worked a nice give-and-go up the right side of the field. Alarcon-Evans started the play about 40 yards out, passing to Ames just outside the top of the box. Ames then forced the lone Broncos defender in position to commit to her leaving Alarcon-Evans free for the shot on the right. Ames fed Alarcon-Evans the ball from 15 yards out, and the freshman sent a low shot past the goalie to put the Cavs up 2-0.
Concordia had no problems closing out the match after that.
“We really performed well through all 90 minutes of the match,” said Landy. “We really didn’t have a lot of poor moments.”
The win kept the Cavs a perfect 3-0-0 at the new Tuominen Yard where no opponent has scored on them so far.
The Cavs’ match against Hastings also drew 350 fans to Tuominen Yard, most of them members of The Navy, Concordia’s student spirit group.
“The Navy really gave us a lot of energy with their noise level tonight,” said Landy. “It was exactly the type of atmosphere in which collegiate soccer should be played.”
However, while Friday’s emotional victory against the Broncos kept the Cavs perfect so far this season, the team will have recharge its emotions quickly, as it concludes the Cavaliers cup against No. 3-ranked Lindsey Wilson (1-0-1) on Sunday, Sept. 2.
Lindsey Wilson was victorious earlier on Friday, topping No. 4-ranked Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 2-1 on a penalty kick in the 87th minute.
“Lindsey Wilson is ranked in the top five for a reason,” said Landy. “We’re going to have to get our emotions back up in a hurry because the real test will be whether we can play like this two matches in a row.”
Sunday’s action at the Cavalier Cup will begin at 12 p.m. with a match between Embry Riddle and Hastings. Concordia will then face Lindsey Wilson in the tournament’s final match at 3:30 p.m.