Lots Of Defense But No Offense In 0-0 OT Tie

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/15/13)—The good news for Concordia on Friday against St. Mary's was that the defense limited the Cardinals to only eight shots on net and didn't give up a goal. The bad news came from the big bagel the Cobber offense produced after putting up 34 shots on net.

The Cobbers and Cardinals wound up skating to a 0-0 overtime tie with both teams getting a hard-earned point in the conference standings. The 0-0 tie is the first scoreless draw in program history. It marks the second time Concordia has been shutout this season and is the third time in 2012-13 CC has blanked its opponent.

The final tie score nets Concordia only one point in the MIAC standings and drops them from a tie for second place in the league standings to a tie for third place. The Cobbers are now 9-4-2 in conference play and just one point behind second-place St. Thomas.CC is 10-7-4 overall. St. Mary's breaks a three-game losing skid and is now 6-12-2 in all games and 4-9-2 in the MIAC.  

The game turned into a Cobber offense vs. St. Mary's goalie Tori Herrman affair midway through the first period. Concordia repeatedly had good looks at the net but either shot wide or had Herrman stand her ground. CC had several mini-breakaways in each period but could never get the puck past Hermann.

Concordia wound up outshooting St. Mary's 34-8 in the game. The eight shots on net is the fewest allowed by the Cobbers this season. The Cobbers gave up only two shots on goal in each of the first and second periods and three in the third.

The best opportunity of the game for either squad came in the second period when CC senior Breann Julius intercepted a pass in the SMU defensive zone and skated in all alone on goal from the top of the face-off circles. Unfortunately Julius' shot sailed wide right and the game remained deadlocked at 0-0.

Cobber sophomore Madison Gendreau had a game-high eight shots on net. She had a couple of the  mini-breaks but was never able to get a clean shot on goal.

The best opportunity in overtime came in the final seconds when Concordia senior defenseman Ali Nelson and several other CC layers crashed the net and tried to jam the puck home on the left side. Herrman stood her ground in the SMU net and was able to cover the puck up as the final buzzer sounded.

The two teams will finish their two-game series on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.