Sept. 11, 2016 - Sometimes, a box score does not tell the entire story. A look at the stat sheet from today's match between the Concordia-Chicago Cougars and the Ripon Red Hawks would seem to indicate a contest played on fairly even terms. However, that was not the story as the Cougars were on the comeback trail all afternoon. The Red Hawks scored all of their goals in the first 21 minutes to take a 3-0 win in Ripon, WI.

Ripon's Paige Pierce did the lion's share of the damage with two goals, the first coming in the ninth minute and the second in the 19th minute. Kaylee Tadych added the third goal just two minutes later as she ran on to a thru ball and found an open net awaiting her.

For all of Ripon's early fireworks, CUC had the advantage in shots for the half by a 9-7 count.  The Cougars finished with 13 shots for the game, 10 of them saved by the Ripon keeper. Sarah LaCost (Mount Prospect, IL/Prospect) led the way with four shots, all of them on goal, while all three of Nikki Anderson's (Montgomery, IL/Oswego) shots were also on frame.

"I thought we played a good game against a red-hot (4-0-0) Ripon team," said CUC head coach Chris Brown. "Unfortunately, we only played about 75 minutes instead of 90; we had the early stretch where we didn't respond to what they were doing, and they made us pay. We did a good job of creating a lot of chances, but it was tough to play that kind of catchup. We'll learn from this and get ready for our next game."

The Cougars (2-2-1) will play one final non-conference match before opening conference play next weekend. Concordia-Chicago will play at Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, WI on Tuesday afternoon.