DECATUR, Ala.—A year after falling in the second round as the No. 1 seed of the tournament, the Concordia women’s soccer team defeated 2011’s top seed Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) 2-1 to advance to the NAIA National Championship Semifinals on Wednesday.

 

With the win, Concordia improved to 18-4-1 on the season and will face No. 5-seeded Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) on Friday, Dec. 2. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. (CST) at Jack Allen Sports Complex. The appearance will be the sixth time in nine years the Cavaliers have reached the national semifinals.  The loss was the first of the year for previously undefeated Lindsey Wilson (19-0-2). It was just the second match all season LWC had given up more than a single goal.

 

Completing the remaining tournament field, No. 2-seed Azusa Pacific (Calif.) will face No. 3-seed Lee University (Tenn.) in the other semifinal match.

 

The same four teams remained in the 2009 tournament with Point Loma edging Azusa Pacific in penalty kicks and Lee defeating Concordia 1-0 en route to their second straight national championship. Lee went on to win last year’s national title to become just the second team in NAIA history to win three straight crowns.

 

With their match delayed due to the previous contest lasting through penalty kicks for the second straight day, Concordia got off to its quickest start of the season with a score at the 3:50 mark as Alex Thomas took a feed from teammate Kaylynn Winwood and blasted a short-range shot into the back of the net.

 

“We knew right away that playing back-to-backs was the hand we were dealt and that fitness and emotional energy was going to be important,” Landy said. “You have to bring heart and desire to the game and that is just as important as tactics at this stage of the tournament. We carried out the gameplan perfectly in the first half and that early goal made a statement for what kind of game it was going to be for us.”

 

The early euphoria would prove to be short lived as the Blue Raiders responded with the equalizer eight minutes later as Mia Persson rocketed a 20-yard low-driving shot through a crowd of players and past the outstretched arms of CU keeper Tori Talbutt.

 

With shots at a premium, the two squads entered the half knotted at 1-1. The scoreboard would remain unchanged for nearly a full hour of gametime as Hannah Scott corralled a quick pass from Jasmine Ayala and tapped in the go-ahead goal in from the left side in the 71st minute.

 

“Jasmine made a great run up the side and played a great ball while after making a first touch, Hannah was able to bury it,” Landy said. “We have been preaching a team mentality all year long and we continue to get major contributions from a lot of people.”

Thomas’ score was by far the fastest of the season for Concordia. Prior to the day, the Cavaliers have only scored four goals inside the first 10 minutes of a match all season with two of those scores coming via owns goals against the opponent’s defense. Jackie Hendrickson notched goals at the 6:34 and 8:08 marks in back-to-back contents against Warner Pacific and College of Idaho late in the season as the previous quickest scores for CU.

Concordia led the game in shots 10-to-6 and shots on goal 6-to-2, allowing Lindsey Wilson senior keeper Jordan Morrison to make a game-high four saves. Talbutt finished the game making just one save and allowing the lone Lindsey Wilson goal.

“It’s not a surprise that they have gone undefeated to this point,” Landy said. “They have a lot of good players and we needed to have a solid gameplan to be successful which the girls took in and executed.”

Concordia improved to 3-2 all-time against Lindsey Wilson after losing to the Blue Raiders in its first two matchups, both of which occurred in postseason play, including the NAIA championship match in 2004. Concordia has faced Pt. Loma once in its program’s history, suffering a 3-1 loss to the Sea Lions in San Diego to start the 2001 campaign.