Concordia's Alex Blalock scored two goals for the Cavs on Sunday, the first multiple-goal game of Blalocks' career.
Cavs Run Away from Bearcats, Win 3-0
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore.—With two second-half goals, the No. 2-ranked Concordia women’s soccer team ran away from the Willamette Bearcats on Sunday, beating the Bearcats 3-0.
The two second-half goals came as a welcomed sign for CU head coach Grant Landy, who had stressed putting teams away in previous matches this season.
“It was nice to score more than two goals, honestly,” said Landy. “We had been in kind of a rut in scoring only two goals for a while so it was nice to break out of that.”
The Cavaliers had in fact not scored more than two goals yet this season, and had only scored three second-half goals through their first five matches of the season.
Besides the increased offense in the second half though, Landy felt his entire team played better as they adjusted to the Bearcats’ field out of halftime.
“Their field is shorter than what we’re used to so it took us a while to get used to that,” said Landy. “Once we did though, we came out with great energy in the second half and a good work rate.”
The second-half energy encouraged Landy in a more holistic sense too, since it came after the Cavaliers had to battle No. 18 Concordia-Irvine in an overtime match on Friday. The second-half energy then, proved the Cavaliers could absorb a physical match on one day and still come out with good energy for a second match only two days later.
Landy has set up the Cavaliers’ schedule to condition his team for that, as Sunday’s win capped the third-straight weekend in which Concordia has played two matches only two days apart from one another.
“We’re trying to get ready for conference when we’ll have to play two matches on a single weekend,” said Landy. “We’ve been getting better at that as the season has gone on and today was another step up.”
Meanwhile, in terms of the actual action on the field Sunday, Concordia got a pair of goals out of junior forward Alex Blalock.
Blalock’s second goal came in the 81st minute of the match and essentially sealed the win for Concordia. Blalock found room for the shot 18 yards out on the right side of the box and fired the ball over the Bearcats’ diving goalkeeper.
Blalock’s first goal, however, may have been even bigger for the Cavs as it came in the 41st minute of the match and gave the Cavs momentum heading into the half.
“That first goal was really important for us, as it really helped to be up 1-0 at the break,” said Landy. “It was a great goal from Blalock, who took on a couple of defenders after getting the ball in the box and came up with a great shot off the post.”
Sandwiched between Blalock’s goals, meanwhile, was the first career goal for junior midfielder Hannah Kimsey.
Kimsey received the ball off a short touch from Erin Huisingh and shot it in from nine yards out. Kimsey’s score put the Cavs up 2-0 in the 63rd minute of the match.
Overall, Concordia outshot the Bearcats 14-to-1, which included a 5-to-1 advantage in shots on goal.
The single shot for the Bearcats marked the second time this season the Cavalier defense has held its opponent to a single shot, and the fourth time the Cavs have held their opponent to five or less shots in a match.
“You’re definitely doing something right when you limit your opponent’s chances like that,” said Landy. “Our back line is really communicating well right now.”
With the win, Concordia improved to 6-0-0 this season, while the Bearcats dropped to 2-2.
The Bearcats had previously played two other CCC opponents this season, losing 4-2 to Corban in their season opener, before bouncing back with a 3-0 win over Northwest Christian in their second match of the season.
Next up, Concordia will face a stiff test as they travel to Orange Beach, Ala. to play No. 4 Mobile and No. 20 William Carey next weekend. The Cavaliers will first play Mobile on Friday, Sept. 14, and then play William Carey the next day, Sept. 15.
The back-to-back matches against ranked teams will be tough, but it’s not something the Cavaliers haven’t done before.
“We’ve set ourselves up well for this next weekend by having already played a couple ranked teams in a single weekend this season,” said Landy. “Even still, this next weekend will be the true test us, as we’ll have to fly across the country and play two highly-ranked teams on consecutive days.”
Both matches next weekend will begin at 5 p.m.