Sept. 18, 2016 - The Concordia University Chicago Women's soccer team has been battle tested all year. Going through tough CCIW and WIAC opponents over the last few weeks, has allowed them to be ready for Northern Athletics Colligate Conference play. The Cougars came out ready to play from the opening whistle, scoring three times in the contest in route to a 3-0 win over the visiting Marian Sabres. The CUC defense was equally as impressive on the day as CUC earned their third shutout of the season through the first seven games, while now holding their opponents scoreless for 249 consecutive minutes.

"It was a good result getting the three points at home to start conference play", said an enthusiastic Head Coach Chris Brown following the win. "I think we are still a work in progress but we are really starting to put things together. I think from top to bottom we played well."

CUC took control of the match from the start. The Cougars did not even allow the fans to even reach their seats before getting the scoring started for the day.  CUC made it 1-0 just seconds into the third minute. Krista Pojero would record her first goal of the season, when Natalie Weinhold led her perfectly off a free kick up the right side into space. Pojero curled it perfectly from just inside the box across net inside the left post for the early lead.

"It was a game changer scoring in the third minute", remarked Pojero when asked about the impact of scoring in the third minute. "We played with a lot of confidence the rest of the match. Once we got the first goal we stayed on their half for the next 15 minutes, and Marian really didn't have a chance from there."

Concordia continued to dominate the half, but were unable to double the lead until the 34^th minute. Sydney Fuller netted her first goal of the season, being led by Kahla Walker into the box, fuller used nice touch to cross over the defender to create a shooting lane and put it in the net on the right side to make it 2-0 CUC before the half.

The Cougars owned a 10-1 shot advantage at the half over the Sabres, controlling the pace of play, and having a major advantage in possession.

CUC continued to pressure Marian in the second half. CUC made it 3-0 in the 72^nd minute, when Meghan Vasseur netted her second goal of the season. She was led into the box by Nikki Anderson on the left side, and one touched it passed the goaltender just inside the left post. The goal proved to be more than enough insurance to seal the 3-0 win for CUC.

Allyson Krajnak earned her second shutout of the season in net. She had to make just two saves in net on the day. CUC outshot Marian on the day by a final total of 18-3.

The Cougars (4-2-1 1-0 NACC) will look to continue their strong start to the season when they return to the Concordia Stadium pitch on Wednesday at 3:00pm against Benedictine.