There Is No Place Like Home For A Win
MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/01/11)— No.22-ranked Concordia did their best Wizard of Oz impersonation as they proved that there really is "no place like home" by dominating St. Mary's in a 2-0 win to remain unbeaten at home in 2011.
The Cobbers outshot the Cardinals 20-2 to move their record at the Jake Christiansen Athletic Complex to 3-0 on the year and break out of a two-game winless streak. CC is now 18-2-1 in the past 21 games played in Moorhead in a streak that dates back to 2009. Concordia upped their 2011 mark to 5-1-3 and moved to 2-1-2 in the MIAC. With the win, Concordia jumps into fifth place in the league standings, just two points behind a three-way tie for second place. St. Mary's remains winless in league play and falls to 1-9 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
The game was about missed chances on both ends of the field. Concordia had the majority of the missed opportunities throughout the game. However, it was one missed golden chance for the Cardinals that could have made the game a nail biter for the entire 90 minutes. The SMU point-blank shot came after Concordia had held the better of play for the first 17 minutes of the game. CC was unable to score despite having five shots and four corners at the start of the game. That's when St. Mary's was able to create a counter and get the ball on the right wing deep in the Cobbers' defensive third of the field. A Cardinal winger then fired a crossing attempt through the six-yard box which CC goalie Ali Nelson deflected straight onto the foot of a wide open SMU attacker just six yards out from goal. The St. Mary's player then knocked the ball over the top of the goal as the Concordia defense scrambled to try and stop the scoring chance.
The missed opportunity allowed Concordia to keep attacking the net without the extra pressure of having to get an equalizer. The Cobbers were finally rewarded for their offensive play when freshman Marta Prosinski redirected a ball from Rochelle Hickerson that eluded the SMU keeper. Hickerson collected the ball at the top of the penalty area after a clearance on a corner kick and then fired a low shot towards the middle of the net. Prosinski was left alone in the area and knocked the ball into the net for her third goal of the season.
The goal helped Concordia settle into the play and they continued to attack the Cardinal goal for the remainder of the first half. The Cobbers wound up outshooting St. Mary's 8-2 in the opening 45 minutes but weren't able to get more than the one score.
The second half was more of the same, with CC attacking and SMU trying to find a way to the net on the counter attack. The Cobbers added an insurance goal midway through the final period when Sarah Rounds scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season at 67:22. The second goal started on the left side of the field when midfielder Kelsey Swagger played Hickerson through on the left wing. Hickerson drove to the net and fired a low shot that was headed for the right side of the goal. The St. Mary's goalie dove and made the stop but was unable to control the rebound which trickled towards the back post. Rounds was then able to just tap the ball into the open goal after driving towards the net on a run to the back post.
Concordia then rolled through different players to try and find another goal to put the game out of reach but couldn't come up with the third goal in the final 20 minutes of play. The Cobbers outshot St. Mary's 12-0 in the second half in total shots and 8-0 in shots on goal.
Nelson needed to make only two stops in goal for Concordia to pick up her fifth shutout of the season. She now has 23 shutouts in her two-plus year career. St. Mary's goalie Miranda Halling stopped 12 shots.
The Cobbers will hope to continue their Moorhead magic when they host Macalester on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m.
