Junior defender Karlye Smith.
Moorhead, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s soccer team fell at the hands of Concordia College by the final score of 2-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Jake Christiansen Athletic Complex. The Cobbers got on the board early with a goal just four minutes into the match and carried that momentum to the 2-0 decision. With the loss, Gustavus drops to 3-3-0 (0-2-0 MIAC) on the year, while Concordia improves to 5-2-0 (2-0-0 MIAC).
It took all of four minutes for the Cobbers to score the match’s opening goal to take a 1-0 lead. Emily Wendorf scored her third goal of the season on Concordia’s first shot of the match as she was able to wriggle free and fire a shot from outside the 18-yard line. The drive banked off the back post and into the back of the net to put the Cobbers on top 1-0 in the early going.
“They came out strong and the pressed in the beginning,” stated Head Coach Laura Burnett-Kurie. “On the early goal, we had been playing pretty well defensively, so it was a little bit of a shock to the system when they scored so early. It was just a great shot from outside of 18 yards that bounced off the post that really tucked its way in on the opposite side.”
It was Wendorf again scoring a goal in the 32nd minute to put Concordia in front 2-0. This time, Wendorf capitalized on a cross in front of the net that she buried for her second goal of the match and fourth of the season. The Cobbers would take the two-goal lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Gusties were able to create dangerous opportunities on the offensive end, but could not put one across as the Cobbers coasted to 2-0 win.
“I think we made some good pushes forward in the first half,” mentioned Burnett-Kurie. “We weren’t moving the ball like we wanted, but were still able to create some chances. In the second half, the game started to open up and we were able to create more dangerous opportunities. We right there tapping on the door, but just couldn’t get one to go.”