Box Score Oct. 23, 2013 – The Concordia University Chicago men's soccer team traveled down the street to Dominican University in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference matchup on Wednesday. The game started at a chilly 44 degrees in River Forest under gray skies, and the reception the Cougars received was just as chilly as they lost to the Stars 4-0.

"It was a tale of two halves," said CUC head coach Micah Middendorf. "In the first half, they took it to us and in the second half, we made adjustments and created a number of opportunities."

The first half saw the Cougars back on their heels as the nine-time defending conference champions took control with goals in the 10^th and 16^th minutes. The Cougars rallied and in the 33^rd minute, Brendan Mullane (Park Ridge, IL/Maine South) had a free kick that was just barely saved by the Stars' keeper. The goalie wasn't able to hang on, and Kyle Bergmann (Bloomingdale, IL/Lake Park) got to the rebound but headed it high. Unfortunately, the Cougars scored an own goal with eight seconds remaining in the first half to go down 3-0 at the break.

The Cougars came out in the second half and defended in an energetic and organized fashion led by freshman Braulio Balcorta (El Paso, TX/Socorro) from the center back position. They were able to work the ball up the field and create chances by switching the point of attack through Dylan Pavlisin (Villa Park, CA/Orange Lutheran) in the midfield. Adam Perolio (Fort Wayne, IN/Bishop Luers) served several good balls from the left side after it was switched to create scoring opportunities. Mullane was a spark creating chances on the left and the right sides of the field.

The best chances in the half again came on a Mullane free kick from the right end line in the 53^rd minute. His low free kick to the near post led to a shot for Anthony Giammanco (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin) that was blocked out for a corner kick. Six minutes later, another well-worked sequence up the right side led to a shot in the corner of the box from Taylor Nehmer (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) that went just high.

Unfortunately, the game finished 4-0 in favor of the Stars as they outshot the Cougars 23 to 9. Goalkeeper Roberto Aragon (Cicero, IL/Morton East) had 11 saves in the match including a tremendous upper 90 stop in the 47^th minute that he parried wide of the net. The Dominican keeper had 4 saves.

The Cougars will host NACC rivals Concordia Wisconsin on Saturday. The game will kick off at 1:00 as the first part of a men's/women's doubleheader.