Annual Senior Day Provides MIAC Thriller

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/21/17)---A pair of dead balls in the second half  proved to be the difference in the Cobbers' 3-2 loss to Augsburg.

Concordia held a 2-1 lead at the half but then the Auggies scored on two free kicks from just outside the Cobber penalty area to come away with the key MIAC victory.

The Cobber have their two-game unbeaten streak come to an end and are now 4-9-2 in all games and 1-5-2 in the MIAC. Augsburg improves to 8-7-1 overall and 3-4-1 in league play.

Augsburg took a 1-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the opening half before the Cobbers responded with two goals in a span of 16:47 midway through the first period.

Sophomore Aronah Mukhtar created, and then finished off, a penalty kick chance to tie the game in the 23rd minute of play. He dribbled the ball inside the Auggie penalty area on the left wing and was then brought down on a slide tackle to earn the spot kick. He then stepped up and calmly buried the ensuing PK into the side of the net.

The game would remain tied until the 32:48 when sophomore Henry Schaefer netted his first collegiate goal. The go-ahead goal came from a free kick on the left wing near the corner kick spot. Justin Froslie took the free kick and passed it to Mukhtar at the top of the penalty area. Mukhtar then took a couple of touches and fired a shot towards the goal. The ball was deflected by an Auggie defender and rolled towards the back post where Schaeffer was standing unmarked. He then poked the ball past the goalie to give CC a 2-1 lead with under 15 minutes to play in the first half.

Concordia would take a 2-1 lead into the break. The Cobbers held a 7-4 advantage in shots in the first period of play.

The second half was a different story as the Cobbers went into a more defensive shell to try and protect their one-goal lead. Augsburg was able to control the play for the final 45 minutes and got goals at the 58:06 and 73:25 marks.

Both of the Auggie goals came from free kicks at the top of the Concordia penalty area after Cobber defenders gave away fouls from inside 25 yards away from goal.

The teams finished with seven shots each in the game. Augsburg held a slight 6-5 edge in shots on goal. Sam Gess had three total shots and two shots on frame to lead the Cobbers.    

POINT OF NO RETURN: 2017 has been the year of two goals for the Cobber defense. When Concordia allows two or more goals in a game they are 0-8-1. When they allow fewer than two goals they are 4-1-1.  

MUKHTAR MAGIC: Aronah Mukhtar added to his team-leading goal total on Saturday. Mukhtar now has five goals in 2017. That total is three more than he had last season and is the most by a CC player since the 2015 season when Jacob Schmidt also had five goals.

HELPING HAND: Justin Froslie upped his team-leading assist total to eight with his helper on the Cobbers' second goal vs. Augsburg. Froslie is second in the MIAC in assists and his eight assists are the most by a Concordia player since the 2015 season when defender Nick Koerbitz also had eight helpers.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will finish off the regular season when they host Bethel on Tuesday, Oct. 24 and then play at St. Mary's on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1 p.m.