Septi Danciu put the Cavs up for good with a made penalty kick in the 24th minute of the match against Warner Pacific on Saturday.
Cavs Stay Perfect in CCC, Beat Rival Warner Pacific 2-0
BOX SCORE -
Concordia vs. Warner Pacific
PORTLAND, Ore.—Facing its cross-town rival Warner Pacific for the first time this season, the No. 25 Concordia men’s soccer team beat the Knights 2-0 on Saturday, running its win streak to five straight matches over its rival.
Concordia maintained its three-point lead over Evergreen State in the CCC standings with the win, as the Cavs remain a perfect 6-0-0 in conference this season and 7-2-1 overall. Warner Pacific, meanwhile, dropped to 4-6-0 overall and 3-3-0 in the CCC after the loss.
CU head coach Dan Birkey was pleased with the result, though saw room for improvement in his team’s play on Saturday.
“It’s always fair to give the team credit for a 2-nil game for the pure fact that they competed, worked together and got the result,” said Birkey. “However, in terms of overall standard of play, we had some missing pieces. We were sluggish at times and need to have more enterprise. We can be a much better attacking team than our play tonight. We seemed out of rhythm.”
The Cavaliers did attack well early in the match, as the team kept the ball in the attacking half of the field for long stretches of the early going.
Concordia finally capitalized on its early aggression when Septi Danciu converted a penalty kick in the 24th minute that put the Cavs on the board. The Cavaliers earned the penalty kick after a Warner Pacific defender took down the Cavs’ Sam Carmichael in the box.
“Sam was clearly taken down on the box and Septi stepped up to convert the penalty kick,” said Birkey. “We had been pressuring the Warner back line before that and that goal felt in flow with the effort we were putting in.”
The Knights responded well to the early goal, however, and got two shots on goal of their own in the next 10 minutes of the match.
The Knights had a good look at a goal in the 33rd minute when the team played a ball to the top center of the box, right between Concordia goalkeeper Arne Niermann and Warner Pacific forward Almir Celebic. Both players sprinted toward the ball, but Celebic would reach the ball first, leaving him with a good look at a score with Niermann now out of position. Niermann quickly recovered, however, as the freshman made a nice slide tackle that dispossessed Celebic and cleared the ball comfortably away from the Cavalier goal.
“Big Arne played really big for us tonight,” said Birkey. “He made two first-half one-on-one saves that made a difference in the match. His decisions and quickness off the line were spectacular tonight.”
Still, the Knights kept up their aggressive attack after Niermann’s big save, as they worked to find an equalizer.
In addition, the Knights’ Drew Bonifacio made a nice save on a header from the Cavs’ Michael Chamberlain in the 66th minute to keep his team within one at 1-0.
However, Chamberlain would quickly come back for the Cavs, as he finally broke through for a score in the 73rd minute to put the Cavs up 2-0.
Chamberlain got the ball on the play after teammate Jared Brace had penetrated deep up the left side of the field. Brace made a short pass to Chamberlain on the near post from there, where Chamberlain put a quick touch on the ball that crossed in front of Bonifacio and curled just inside of the right post.
“Our second goal was an outcome of Brace working the wide area and providing a nice service to Mikey,” said Birkey. “Mikey redeemed himself for a few earlier chances he knew the team needed, and good players have that sense.”
However, the Knights still wouldn’t go away after the score, and had a couple of great chances late in the match when the Cavs gave them free kicks just outside of the box.
The first such time came in the 76th minute when the Cavs’ Niermann slid out of the box with the ball in tow. Niermann saved the ensuing shot, though the Cavs would again give the Knights the ball just outside the box in the 88th minute. Luckily for the Cavs, the Knights’ ensuing shot once again missed the net and the Cavs melted the clock from there.
Overall, Concordia outshot the Knights 19-to-10, including a 7-to-3 advantage in shots on goal.
Niermann finished with three saves in goal for the Cavs, while completing his third straight shutout.
On the flip side, the Knights played Dorian Lair in goal in the first half, then switched to Bonifacio in the second. Both goalkeepers gave up a goal, though Bonifacio finished with three saves compared to just one for Lair.
Next up, Concordia travels to Oregon Tech for a match at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6. Warner Pacific also returns to action on the sixth, as the Knights travel to The College of Idaho for a match at 1 p.m. Both matches will complete the first run through the conference schedule for each team.