Box Score
Sept. 20, 2014 – Concordia University Chicago's women's soccer team hosted their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener on Saturday versus the Edgewood Eagles who tied for the regular-season conference crown last year. The Cougars started strong and were up 2-0 early in the second half before squandering the lead and losing 3-2. The Cougars fall to 4-2 on the season and 0-1 in the NACC.

"It is great to see that we can play with one of the traditional powers in our conference," said CUC head coach Thomas Goines. "Now we have to learn how to close out games and stamp our authority on the game if we want to take that next step and move into the upper echelons of the conference."

The game started brightly for the Cougars as they pressured the Eagles from the kickoff and forced them backwards. The Cougars posted three shots in the first five minutes as they held the Eagles in check through good defending and quick ball movement on offense. The Cougars maintained the advantage for much of the first half.

In the 21^st minute, some tough physical defense from Wisconsin native Haley Graner (Waukesha, WI/Waukesha West) sparked a breakout on the offensive end as Elizabeth Sanders (St Louis, MO/Parkway South) was played in on goal and gave CUC the 1-0 lead just 29 seconds later with her fourth goal of the year.

After a halftime talk that had an emphasis on maintaining defensive pressure and concentration the Cougars came out tough. Sarah LaCost (Mt Prospect, IL/Prospect) used her physicality to play the ball to Natalie Weinhold (St Peters, MO/Lutheran St Charles) who shrugged off a defender and scored giving CUC the 2-0 lead. 

Just one minute after taking the two-goal lead, the Cougars gave back a goal as the Eagles parlayed a quick throw in into a goal to make it 2-1 as the concentration waned. A physical game emerged over the rest of the game as both teams battled to win the ball. Edgewood was able to take advantage of their physical milieu, which caused the game to go in fits and starts, and score in the 67^th minute. The Cougars were unable to regain their concentration and passing rhythm in an increasingly physical slugfest.

In the 85^th minute, the Eagles struck again for a goal which provided the final margin of 3-2. The ball came free in front after eluding a Cougar defender, and Emily Dorsett had keeper Callie Hasselbring (Houston, TX/Cypress Ridge) at her mercy from point-blank range.

The Cougars have just 24 hours to forget Saturday's contest as they host non-conference foe Anderson University from Indiana on Sunday at 1 p.m. They return to NACC play on Wednesday as they host Aurora University.