One Streak Ends, One Streak Continues

ST. PAUL, Minn. (9/30/15)—One streak came to an end and one streak continued in Concordia's 4-1 loss at St. Thomas on the final day of September.

The Cobbers entered the game unbeaten on the road against home teams. Concordia had a 4-0 record heading into Wednesday and that streak came to a halt. Unfortunately the trend of giving up goals early in the game continued for the Cobbers. CC allowed two goals to the Tommies in the first 12:44 of the opening period. Concordia has now given up two goals in the first 16 minutes of play in each of the past three conference games.

The early-game outburst sent Concordia to their third straight loss in the MIAC. The Cobbers are now 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the MIAC. St. Thomas wins for the third time in the past four games and moves to 4-4 on the season. UST is 2-1 in league play.

Concordia controlled the early part of the game as they forced the attack in the Tommie defensive end. The two St. Thomas early goals came against the run of play as UST used a quick counterattack to create chances.

The first goal at 10:37 came off of a corner kick. St. Thomas would strike just 2:07 later when an attacker got on the end of a cross and knocked the ball in the net.

The Cobbers were quick to counter with a corner kick goal of their own. Senior Morgan Holm tapped the ball home from close range after the dead ball service from Paige McCullough. Holm's third goal of the season at 13:07 pushed Concordia back into the game and back into attack. Holm now has seven points for the season which is second best on the team. The assist was McCullough's second of the season.

The Cobbers would hold the advantage in time of possession in the first half and had a 5-4 edge in shots on goal in the opening period.

The game would be put to rest in a span of 10:05 in the second half. St. Thomas scored on a pair of one-time goals at 53:19 and 63:24 and Concordia was never able to recover.

St. Thomas held an 8-2 advantage in total shots in the second half and came away with a 17-10 margin in total shots for the game. UST also held an 11-7 lead in shots on goal.

Cobber goalie Elizabeth Bitzan made seven saves and now has 52 saves for the season. Bitzan had 80 saves in Concordia's 21 games last year.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will have a pair of home games over the weekend to try and get back on the winning track. The Cobbers will host St. Mary's on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m. as part of the annual Homecoming celebration. CC will then host non-conference opponent Wis.-Stevens Point on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m.