NCAA First Round Preview - Concordia vs. Aurora

NCAA FIRST ROUND: Concordia (13-4-2) vs. Aurora (17-3-1)

DATE: November 15, 2014
LOCATION: Lake Forest, Ill. (Lake Forest College - Farwell Field)
GAME TIME: 1:30 p.m.
TICKETS: $6 for adult and $3 for any student (2 years old and younger are free).

Live Video: Aurora Sports GameDay


Live Stats: Cobber Primetime GameDay

2014 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament

-  Complete NCAA Division III NCAA Interactive Bracket


- 2014 NCAA Division III Tournament Program

Lake Forest Regional

Nov. 15 (Saturday)
First Round
St. Scholastica (15-6-1) @ Lake Forest (20-0-0) 11 a.m. | Live Video | Live Stats
Concordia (13-4-3) vs. Aurora (17-3-1) 1:30 p.m. | Live Video | Live Stats

Nov. 16 (Sunday)
Second Round
Winners from first round of regional - 1 p.m.

Cobber Multimedia
Wired For Sound - Sadie Hayes
Listen to junior Sadie Hayes during the Cobber women's soccer team's practice the day before their NCAA first round tournament game with Aurora.

NCAA Team Playoff Notes:
CONCORDIA COBBERS

- Concordia is making its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth in the past six years. The Cobbers have advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 on three occasions (2012, 2011, 2009).
- The first time Concordia qualified for the NCAA Tournament was 2006 when they lost 2-0 to Wis.-Eau Claire in a game played in River Falls, Wis. 
- The Cobbers are 6-6-1 in their previous six trips to the NCAA Tournament.
- Concordia is 3-2-1 in their previous six first round games. The Cobbers are beaten in their last four first round games and are 3-0-1 during that stretch. CC beat Puget Sound in penalty kicks (2011) in the lone tie during the past four first rounders. 
- Concordia has outscored its opponents 8-6 in the previous six first round games. All six previous first round games have had at least two goals scored in the game.
- The Cobbers are 1-2-1 in first round games played outside the state of Minnesota. Concordia is 1-0 in the first round against teams from Illinois. CC beat Lake Forest 201 in Waverly, Iowa in 2012. This will be the first time the Cobbers have played a first round game east of Wisconsin.
- Concordia is 2-1-2 in its last five games heading into the 2014 tournament. The Cobbers lost 1-0 in the MIAC title game at Augsburg after beating Carleton in the conference semifinals at home in a penalty kick shootout.
- The Cobbers are 3-0 in games played at neutral sites this season. CC is also 6-2-2 in games played on Saturday. Of those 10 games on Saturday, six have gone to overtime. The Cobbers are 4-0-2 in those overtime games played on a Saturday. 

AURORA SPARTANS
- Aurora is making its 11th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and sixth consecutive national tournaent appearance. 
- The first time Aurora qualified for the NCAA Tournament was in 2001 when they lost 2-1 at Lawrence in a game played in Wisconsin.    
- The Spartans have never won a first round game and are 0-10-0 in their previous 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. Aurora lost to Calvin College 1-0 in double overtime in last year's NCAA Tournament first round at Wash U. in St. Louis, Mo.
- Aurora has played Calvin in the last two NCAA first round games and have lost both 1-0 in overtime. Last year they lost in double OT while in 2012 they fell in the first overtime period.
- Aurora has been outscored 23-3 in their previous 10 first round games. The Spartans have been held scoreless in their three previous first round games. The last time they scored in the first round was back in 2010 in a 3-1 loss against Loras.
- The Spartans are 0-5 in first round games played in Illinois. Of those five games, they have been shutout four times. They haven't played a first round NCAA tourney game in their home state since 2009. Last year they played at Wash. U. in Missouri and the three previous first round games were played in Iowa.
- Aurora is unbeaten in its last 17 games heading into the national playoffs. The Spartans are 16-0-1 in that stretch, They are coming off a 3-2 win over Concordia University (Wis.) in the title game of the NACC Tournament.
- The Spartans have not played a game on a neutral field this season. AC is 5-0 in games played on Saturday this year and have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 20-3 on the first day of the weekend.

Cobbers vs. Aurora Series History:

Series started: 2013

Aurora leads overall series: 1-0-0

Series Synopsis: These two teams have only played one other time before and that was last season during Concordia's mid-semester break. The Cobbers traveled to Aurora, Ill. and lost 3-0 in the second of two games in Illinois. CC had beaten Dominican (Ill.) 10-1 two days prior to the game with the Spartans. 

Last Year: Concordia 0 at Aurora 3
Last year the teams battled through a scoreless first half before Aurora was able to net a trio of goals in a span of 26 minutes in the second half. The Spartans held a 7-1 advantage in shots at the break as they used the speed of their frontrunners to cause havoc on the Cobber backline. Concordia controlled the ball in the middle of the field but was unable to get behind the Spartan defense in the final 25 yards of play.

The game turned in Aurora's favor in the seventh minute of the second half when the Spartans drove the ball down the left wing and then played a crossing pass to the far side of the Concordia penalty area. After several shots were blocked, the ball caromed to Nicole Wolf who drove the ball into the net from six yards out. Aurora then doubled its lead 3:28 later when they once again drove the ball to the Cobber backline and then found an opening. Brittany Roydhouse made good on her third goal of the year and forced the Cobbers to try and chase a two-goal deficit for the final 35 minutes of the game.

Aurora held a decided 17-5 edge in total shots while shots on goal were 12-1 in favor of the Spartans.    

Stat Central:

- 2014 Concordia Statistics

- 2014 Aurora Statistics

- 2014 MIAC Statistics

- 2014 NACC Statistics

- 2014 Concordia NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

- 2014 Aurora NCAA Team/Individual Rankings

Conference Postseason Awards:

- 2014 Concordia MIAC Postseason Award Winners


- 2014 Aurora NACC Postseason Award Winners

Scouting the Spartans:
Aurora enters the NCAA Tournament on a 17-game unbeaten streak. The Spartans breezed to the NACC regularseason championship with a perfect 10-0-0 mark and then won the semifinals of the conference tournament 3-2 over Dominican (Ill.). Aurora then claimed the league's automatic bid into the national tournament by recording another 3-2 win in the championship game against Concordia University (Wis.).

Aurora has one of the best offenses in the nation. They are led by junior forward Nicci Bermudes who has 34 goals and 12 assists for a remarkable 81 points this year. She was named the NACC Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight year earlier this week.

Bermudes is second in all of NCAA Division III in goals and points. Bermudes has 11 game-winning goals this season which is tied for the most of any player in NCAA Division I, II or III. She has scored at least one goal in all but for games for the Spartans this year and has scored two or more goals on 11 occasions. Her top performance of the year came against Concordia-Chicago when she had four goals and one assist in a 7-0 win.  

Aurora has scored at least three goals in 12 of their 21 games this season. The Spartans outscored their opponents 64-14 during the season. AC did most of its damage in the first half of games. Aurora had a 42-3 advantage in scoring in the first 45 minutes of play. The Spartans have trailed at the half in only two games this season. They were down 1-0 to the University of Chicago and lost 3-2 and then trailed 1-0 to Augustana (Ill.) before playing to a 1-1 double overtime tie.

The Spartan defense has posted 12 shutouts this season including a stretch of five games without conceding a goal. Sophomore goalie Rachael Warnock has started 19 of the 21 games this season and has a 0.72 goals against average. She was named to the NACC All-Conference First Team. Senior defender Lisa Bajkowski was named the NACC Defensive Player of the Year. 

Cobber SID Pick To Click:

#27 Libby Fransdal, Sr., D/#19 Sadie Hayes, Jr., D
Not a very hard decision on this one. Either the Cobber central defense tandem of Libby Fransdal and Sadie Hayes will shut down the scoring machine known as Nicci Bermudes and Concordia will have a chance, or Bermudes will find the back of the net and make life difficult for the Cobbers in the first round of the tournament.

Whatever the outcome is, it should be a fantastic match-up between two potential All-Americans in Fransdal and Bermudes.