Running Out Of Time

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/28/16)--- The south end on the soccer field at Jake Christiansen Athletic Complex saw all the action in Concordia's 2-1 loss against No.14-ranked St. Thomas. The Tommies scored both of their goals heading south in the first half and then the Cobbers connected on their only strike in the second half.

It looked as if unbeaten St. Thomas would run away and hide in the midweek conference game as they scored two goals in the first 12:14 of play. The Tommies opened the scoring off of a turnover in the seventh minute of play. A St. Thomas attacker settled a misplayed clearance and fired a long shot into the back of the net.

The lead would be doubled at the 12:14 mark when a centering pass found the foot of a Tommie attacker who slid the ball into the left side of the Cobber goal.

Concordia (1-5-3/0-3-1 MIAC) had only one shot on goal in the first 18 minutes of play but slowly got back into the game by finding open space on the wing. Senior Paige McCullough started to get behind the UST and CC recorded three shots in a span of 10 minutes starting at the 18:05 mark.

The Cobbers started slowly in the second half but after the 5-minute mark they put the pedal to the floor and started to attack the St. Thomas goal on a consistent basis.

The offensive pressure by the Cobbers paid off in the 62nd minute of play when they earned a corner kick on the right side of goal. McCullough took the kick and sailed the ball towards the back post. The ball went over the top of the UST goalie and found the right foot of senior Emily Payne who one-time a shot into the short side of the net.

The goal was Payne's second of the season and second in the past three games. McCullough earned her team-leading sixth assist on the year and now has a team-best 10 points.

The goal was also only the second score allowed by the Tommies in their first eight games of the season.   

Concordia was never able to come up with the game-tying goal in the final 28 minutes of play despite the one-way traffic towards the Tommie end.

The Cobbers' best chance came in the 88th minute when Emily Wendorff cut in from the left wing at the top of the UST penalty area. She cut into the middle of the field and let loose a curling, dipping shot from 20 yards out of goal. Her shot wound up just sliding over the top of the crossbar.

St. Thomas (7-0-1/2-0-1 MIAC) outshot Concordia 12-10 in total shots and held an 8-5 edge in shots on goal. McCullough led all players with five total shots and four shots on goal.

Cobber goalie Maddy Reed made six saves in the 90-minute game.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DYNAMITE: Paige McCullough's assist on the Cobber goal gave her 10 total points for the year which marks her second straight season with a double-digit point total. McCullough had 15 points in 2015 and has 33 points in her career.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will look for its first conference win when they play at St. Mary's on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 3:30 p.m. CC will then play a non-conference game at Northwestern (Minn.) on Monday, Oct. 3.