A Tale Of Two Halves Against St. Thomas
ST. PAUL, Minn. (9/27/11)-- It was a tale of
two halves for the Cobbers against St. Thomas on Tuesday. Concordia
stumbled and bumbled their way through the first 45 minutes of
play, allowed four goals in a span of 22:41, was outshot 15-4
and found themselves behind 4-0 at the break. The second half
was completely different as CC held a 9-8 edge in shots and scored
the only goal of the final 45 minutes. The Cobbers also had several
other quality chances that could have brought the game level.
Concordia is now 3-5-1 overall and 0-3-1 in the MIAC while St.
Thomas improves to 4-2-0 in all games and 2-1-0 in conference play.
St. Thomas was able to run at, and through, the Cobber defense in
the first half. Concordia struggled to contain the UST forwards
after they turned and started to run at the Cobber backline. This
caused several breakdowns behind the defense and also led to
several game-changing dead ball situations. St. Thomas’ first
goal came after a string of free kicks. The CC defense was unable
to clear the zone and finally Josh Pozner knocked
home the opening goal of the game on a restart at 13:01. The
Tommies would then add goals at 20:28, 30:08 and 35:42 before the
half ended the scoring barrage. The final UST goal came on a
penalty kick.
Concordia was a different team in the second half. They were able
to slow down the Tommie attack and then connect through the
midfield to find forwards in space. The Cobbers had several quality
chances to score before they were able to get on the board. CC
sophomore midfielder Matt Glogoza scored his first
goal of the season at the 64:40 mark. Concordia would have four
more shots from inside the penalty before the end of regulation.
The best chance came when sophomore Kristian
Reiersgord hit the post in the 68th minute.
St. Thomas held a 23-13 edge in total shots for the game.
UST also had a 11-5 advantage in shots on goal. The Cobbers had
more corner kicks in the game. CC had eight corners as compared to
six for the Tommies.
CC goalie Peter Runquist made seven saves in the
game and St. Thomas keeper Jace Leiferman stopped
four shots to earn the win.