Sept. 1, 2016 - The Concordia University Chicago women's soccer team had the honor of opening the new sports year this afternoon with a home match against Illinois College. The Cougars had the better of play for much of the day, but the visiting Lady Blues held off the hosts until they capitalized on their opportunity early in the second overtime to take a 1-0 victory.

The Lady Blues had a slight edge in play over the first 15 minutes of play, but the Cougars gradually found their legfs and began to push the attack. Natalie Weinhold (St. Peters, MO/Lutheran St. Charles) managed the Cougars' first shot and, minutes later, Kahla Walker (Peoria, IL/Notre Dame) had two quality chances, following up a blocked first shot with a rebound that sailed just wide of the goal. The Cougars kept up the pace with Sarah LaCost (Mount Prospect, IL/Prospect) taking one from long range that went wide left. For the half, CUC outshot Illinois College 6-3 but the game was still scoreless as the teams went to their respective locker rooms.

In the second half, each team generated a few chances, but the two best opportunities for CUC came in the final 90 seconds. The first came as a pass found Nikki Anderson (Montgomery, IL/Oswego) angling in from the left side. The IC keeper came out to meet her, and Anderson's shot had her beat but unfortunately nicked the crossbar and sailed over the net. Then, a cross from the right side was deflected just before it got to Elizabeth Sanders (St. Louis, MO/Parkway South) who would have had an easy tap-in from the doorstep.

The first overtime passed without any real chances for either side. However, the Lady Blues were presented their chance just over a minute into the second extra session. Ashley Slomire, the visitors' top scorer in 2015, angled in from the right side and was brought down in the box. The referee pointed to the penalty spot, and Slomire converted low to Allyson Krajnak's (Griffith, IN/H.S.) left to end the match as dusk was beginning to set in at Concordia Stadium. 

Concordia-Chicago finished the match with a 13-9 edge in shots. Krajnak made two saves while IC keeper Samantha Vacek stopped all eight of the Cougars' shots on goal.

The Cougars will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 3 with a match against Simpson College of Iowa at 2 p.m. The match will be played at the Sports Core in Rockford, IL, and CUC will provide live stats for the match at www.cucougars.com.