PORTLAND, Ore.—Trailing 1-0 at the half, Concordia struck for an early goal to start the second and a game-winning score by Facundo Dipascuale (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Lakeridge H.S.) in the 72nd minute to defeat Rocky Mountain College on Friday evening at Delta Park.

 

With the win, CU improved to 2-1 on the season while RMC fell to 2-1. The Cavaliers return to action on Sept. 11 when it travels to face Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.

 

Concordia nearly doubled its opponents shot total with a final tally resting at 16-9, but the Bears would be the first to light the scoreboard as Oliver Gore (Stafford, England) connected on a score in the 23rd minute of action.

 

Just moments out of the gate in the second half, Matt Caniglia (San Francisco, Calif./Lebanon H.S.) corralled a pass from teammate Mirza Ramic (Banja Luka, Bosnia/Lincoln H.S.) and fired from 14 yards out to square the contest at 1-1.    

 

With momentum on their side, the Cavs continued to pressure the Bear defense which would finally crack at the 71:16 mark as Dipascuale, kicking the ball on the hop, unleashed a well-timed strike from 16 yards out which sailed into the back of the net.

 

The CU back line would hold on for the win as keeper Claudio Lazar (Ploiesti, Romania/Minai Viteazul H.S.) gathered five saves for his second win of the season.

 

“Rocky Mountain is a good that came well organized,” CU head coach Dan Birkey said. “At the half, our guys realized that we had done a lot of good things to that point, but we just didn’t have the goal to show for it. I give credit to them for showing some maturity and for reorganizing. It was a game of two halves and Caniglia really came through with a nice goal for us. That moment lifted the spirit.”