Feb. 27, 2016 - A crisp, sunny day provided the backdrop as women's lacrosse began its first season of intercollegiate play today. The Concordia-Chicago Cougars hosted Alma College from Michigan and, although the edge in experience played a factor in the visitors' 18-3 victory, the Cougars still came out of this game with an overall good feeling about what lies ahead for the remainder of the spring 2016 season,

"A lot of excitement, a lot of nerves all went into today's game," said CUC head coach Brian Patterson. "While the game didn't come out the way we might have hoped, we're glad that we played today and that we can now look ahead to the next game."

Alma, an NCAA Division III team beginning the fifth season of its lacrosse program, rode to the victory behind the play of Brianna Soriano and Katherine Rogers who combined for half of the Scots' goals. Soriano opened the scoring just 45 seconds after the opening draw. Rogers scored the visitors' second goal just over a minute later, amd Soriano added to the lead 45 seconds later after Alma was able to keep the ball in the attack zone after misfiring on a good opportunity. 

The Cougars called timeout after the third goal and came out a bit more settled. The score remained at 3-0 until nearly the midway point of the half when Alma struck for four goals in a span of four minutes.

The home fans finally had their first chance to cheer when the Cougars got on the board with 12:36 remaining before half. A foul in the crease gave CUC a free position opportunity. Senior Sonja Sorensen (Berwyn, IL/Walther Lutheran) notched the program's first goal with a shot low to the goalie's right and inside the far post.

Alma came back with the next four goals late in the half, but CUC began to see a few more chances in their offensive end. One shot was dewnied by the post, and another opportunity by Sydney Fuller (Elkhart, IN/Northridge) went wide left. The Cougars got one more goal 3:35 before the break when freshman Margaret Doane (Glen Ellyn, IL/homeschooled) maneuvered in close to the goal and hit the back of the net to make the halftime score Alma 11, Concordia-Chicago 2.

The second half featured some longer possessions, but the Cougars were unable to cut into the Scots' lead. Alma scored seven in the half before CUC tallied the final goal of the game with 1:49 remaining. Doane scored her second goal with a free position shot from a slight angle to the right.

"It was a tough day, but our team kept battling for the entire 60 minutes as I expected they would," said Patterson. "There were good things we can take away from this game, but we knew that we'd also find out the areas on which we need work. Now we've seen what those areas are, we'll take them into this coming week's practices and look to get better together."

The Cougars will play the next five games away from home, beginning with a game at Elmhurst College on Wednesday, March 2. Game time has been moved up one hour from its original time to a 4:00 start.