Oct. 31, 2013 - The women's soccer teams of Concordia University Chicago and Marian University have already spent a little extra time together during the 2013 regular season. Now, they will have one more opportunity to see if familiarity adds an even greater intensity to what is now a highly competitive spark.
The CUC Cougars will travel to Smith Field in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin this Sunday to engage the Sabres in a first-round contest of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament that will kick off at 1 p.m.
The two teams were originally scheduled to play their regular-season contest on Oct. 5, but lightning and heavy downpours caused the match to be abandoned after just four minutes had been played. Marian returned to River Forest eight days later, and the Cougars and Sabres hooked up in a well-played, exciting contest that went 110 minutes and ended in a 1-1 draw.
"Our game against Marian was certainly one of the biggest challenges we received to our home unbeaten streak," said CUC head coach
Thomas Goines. "We know that the intensity for Sunday's match will be even greater and that Marian's coaching staff will have them prepared to play one of their best games of the year."
While the Cougars are coming off their best season in the program's 13-year history - a 12-2-4 record and 6-2-3 in NACC play - Goines sees his team as confident but not caught up in all of the hoopla. "It's been nice not to have lost in over a month (Sept. 24) and have that feeling of confidence in you. But, at the same time, I believe our players know that all the results and records won't mean a thing when we step on the pitch on Sunday afternoon. We will have to match Marian's intensity and bring the better effort to get the win and advance in the tournament."
The Cougars are making their first appearance in the NACC tournament and first conference tournament appearance since 2005 when they faced Aurora University in the finals of the old Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference. Concordia's 12-win season this year beat its previous best of 10 wins, established in four different seasons (2003, 2005, 2011, 2012). The team comes into Sunday's game with a current unbeaten streak of 11 games and a three-year record of 32-17-6 under Goines.
Alyssa Soulis (Grayslake, IL/Grayslake North) leads the Cougars with 13 goals and nine assists for 35 points. She is CUC's all-time leading scorer with 56 goals and 26 assists for 138 points. Soulis has 15 game-winning goals for her career including yesterday's 1-0 win over Dominican University.
Freshman
Natalie Weinhold (St. Peters, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) has enjoyed a stellar rookie season, scoring eight goals (three game-winners) and adding eight assists for 24 points. Another first-year Cougar, sophomore
Christine Saucedo (Brookfield, IL/Lyons Township) has anchored a stingy backline while
Callie Hasselbring (Houston, TX/Cypress Ridge) has had the finest of her three years with the program, recording a 0.71 goals-against average and eight shutouts.
Marian (9-8-1, 7-3-1 NACC) is making their sixth straight tournament appearance and are 40-32-2 under fourth-year had coach Jason Murphy. The Sabres finished one point ahead of CUC in the standings and earned the home field for Sunday's game with a 3-0 win over Lakeland College on Wednesday night. Morgan Ansems tallied all three goals for the Sabres including the first goal just three seconds before halftime.
The Sabres are led in scoring by freshman Mikaila Johnson with nine goals (three game-winners) and three assists for 21 points. Junior Laura Maly is next with seven goals and three assists for 17 points while Ansems has seven goals for 14 points. Caitlyn Rosenberger has been Marian's regular between the pipes, and the junior has started all 18 games with a 9-7-1 record, 110 saves and a 1.37 GAA to her credit.
Links to live coverage of Sunday's game will be added to this website when they are made available. Cougar fans can also follow along on Twitter (@CUChicagoSports).
