Box Score
Second-Half Explosion Boosts Cougar Men to 2-0
Sept. 1, 2013 - In the second of back-to-back weekend games, the Concordia-Chicago men's soccer team saved their best for the final 45 minutes of the match. A four-goal outburst in a span of 6 1/2 minutes blew open what had been a close game and led to a 7-1 Cougar victory over Eureka College in the home opener at Concordia Stadium.
"We have a lot of confidence right now, we're scoring a lot of goals and it's a great feeling to start out 2-0 for the season," said sixth-year head coach Micah Middendorf.
Brendan Mullane (Park Ridge, IL/Maine South) has been the offensive leader in the first two matches, following up yesterday's five-point performance with an identical two-goal, one-assist game today. Mullane opened the scoring in the 25th minute as his shot from the right side beat David Flores. The Cougars had a huge territorial edge in the first half, outshooting the Red Devils 20-6, but Eureka's defense packed the middle of the field which resulted in several of CUC's shots being blocked before they could get through to Flores.
The Cougars coninued to put on the pressure early in the second half, and Mullane's second goal of the match opened the proverbial floodgates. The junior chased down the rebound of a shot along the touchline to the left of goal and then beat Flores from a difficult angle to put Concordia up two in the 58th minute.
While the Cougar faithful were still celebrating that goal, they were rewarded with the third goal 30 seconds later. A quick attack forced Eureka to foul inside the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Senior defender Dylan Pavlisin (Villa Park, CA/Orange Lutheran) took the shot from the spot and drilled it into the upper left corner for a 3-0 lead.
The onslaught was far from finished. Senior Anthony Giammanco (Bartlett, IL/South Elgin) notched the next two tallies, scoring first off a nice feed from Mullane and minutes later hitting a shot from the middle of the field that snuck through a couple of defenders into the net.
Concordia's lead became 6-0 in the 69th minute as Taylor Nehmer (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran) scored his second goal of the weekend. His low shot eluded Flores on the short side. Jimmy Culotta (Racine, WI/Racine Lutheran) then added goal number seven for the Cougars when he tapped in a loose ball from a scrum in front of the goal.
Eureka eluded the shutout in the 79th minute. Two Red Devils' shots were blocked by the Cougar defenders, but Josh Newell got to the rebound of the second shot and found the net with a hard strike.
Concordia finished with a 36-13 edge in shots. Roberto Aragon (Cicero, IL/Morton East) and Edgar Martinez (Chicago, IL/Cristo Rey) combined to make three saves. Flores was credited with five saves in net.
The Cougars will look to build on the early season momentum on Wednesday afternoon when they host Elmhurst College. Kickoff at Concordia Stadium is scheduled for 4:00.
