Make That a 4-Game Unbeaten Streak
MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/04/23)---What's better than a 3-game unbeaten streak to start the season? How about a 4-game unbeaten streak?
Concordia used a dominating performance to blank Wis.-Superior and posted a 4-0 victory to up their unbeaten streak to four games.
It's the longest unbeaten streak to start a season since the 2005-06 season when the Cobbers went 4-0-0 in their first four games.
On Saturday, Concordia used a solid defense to slow down the Yellowjackets' attack and wait for the offense to arrive. The Cobber goal scorers showed up in the third period and put together the highest-scoring period of the season.
Concordia scored four unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes of play to overwhelm Superior.
Neither team could come up with a goal in the first two periods as both goalies were solid, and the defenses limited any chances from around the net.
That all changed at the start of the third period when Adam Brown drove the puck down the left wing and played it behind the net. Hunter Olson beat the UWS defense to the puck and centered it out front. All-American defenseman Liam Haslam read the play, skated down the slot, took the pass from Olson and wristed home the eventual game-winning goal from between the faceoff circles.
The strike at 2:23 was Haslam's first goal of the year.
Senior captain Cole O'Connell doubled the team's lead at 8:53 when he wouldn't be denied at the top of the Yellowjackets' crease. O'Connell took a centering pass from Ben Luedtke and 1-timed a shot off the left post. The puck stayed right by the post, and O'Connell had to fight his way to get to the rebound and tap home the puck.
Like Haslam, it was O'Connell's first of the year. Luedtke and Caden Triggs were credited with the assists on the power play goal. Triggs has posted at least one point in three of the team's four games this year.
Troy Dahlheimer put the game out of reach when he netted his first goal of the year at 14:19. Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe and Gavin Waltz posted the helpers. For Waltz, it was his first college point playing in his second college game.
The final tally came 77 seconds after Superior pulled its goalie to try and get back into the contest.
Joe Harguindeguy tried to score on the open goal from inside the Cobbers; defensive zone. His shot narrowly missed the goal, and the play was headed for an icing call before Mason Plante put on the afterburners, beat the Yellowjackets' defense to the spot to negate the icing infraction and then skated out from behind the goal with the puck and slid it into the empty net.
The goal for Plante was his second of the season and came at the 15:36 mark. He has now posted at least one point in all four games this year.
Concordia outshot Superior 29-22 for the game.
CC senior goalie Matt Fitzgerald stopped all 22 shots he faced to record his first career shutout. Fitzgerald has been in goal for three of the team's four games this year and has a GAA of 0.97.
The Cobbers were 1-for-4 on the power, while CC held UWS scoreless in their three power-play chances.
UP NEXT: Concordia will open conference play when they host St. John's on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.
CONCORDIA vs. UW-SUPERIOR HIGHLIGHTS: