Concordia junior Brittany Mayer battles for a head ball in the Cobbers' 4-0 win at UW-Eau Claire on Sunday. CC is now 14-0-0. (Pic courtesy of Brad Kowalski)
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (10/18/09)-- No.14-ranked Concordia scored a pair of counterattack goals in the first 15 minutes of play against UW-Eau Claire on Sunday and rolled to a 4-0 win in Eau Claire, Wis. The win keeps the Cobbers unbeaten on the year as they move to 14-0-0. They are now one of only three unbeaten or untied teams in the country. CC joins Trinity (Tex.) and Williams (Mass.) as the only teams without a blemish in 2009.
The win is also the first for Concordia over UW-Eau Claire since the 1992 season. The Cobbers had dropped four straight to the Blugolds including a 2-0 decision in the first round of the NCAA playoffs in 2006.
UW-Eau Claire (8-6-2) started off the game by pinning the Cobbers into their own end and by trying to gain the early momentum by scoring an early goal. Concordia weathered the initial storm and then came up with the opening score of the game on a counterattack. CC won possession of the ball and junior midfielder Susan Obermiller was able to get by the Blugold defense. Obermiller then slotted the ball over to freshman Killashandra Link who knocked home her second goal of the season at 9:23. The Cobber repeated the same scenario less than four minutes later when Sam Johnson scored the first of her two goals on the day. Johnson finished off another counter by passes from Mikenna Maroney and Brittany Mayer. The goal at 13:00 left Eau Claire stunned as they had the better of the play in the opening minutes but found themselves down 2-0.
Concordia added a third goal before the break when freshman Sarah Rounds fired a shot that beat the keeper at the 39:25 mark. The unassisted goal was Rounds' sixth of the season and brought her season point total to 21 points which is the second highest total on the team.
Leading 3-0 heading into the second half and going against a stiff wind, the Cobbers were content to sit back and force the Blugolds to work to get back in the game. The Concordia defense held tight and Johnson added a fourth goal 21:17 into the final period. Her goal at 66:17 was Johnson's team-leading 17th of the season. She has now scored multiple goals in four of the last five games and during that stretch has 11 tallies. Johnson has now scored in 10 of the team's 14 overall games.
Cobber keeper Ali Nelson kept the clean sheet for the rest of second half, finishing the game with six saves and picking up her eighth shutout of the season. Concordia has only conceded six goals in all of 2009 and has a team goals against average of 0.42.
Eau Claire split the goalkeeping duties between Cameron Stoeger and Emily Kidd. Stoeger had one save in the first half and Kidd did not make a save in the final 45 minutes.
Next up for Concordia is a key MIAC road game. The Cobbers will play at Carleton on Friday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m.
