Sept. 28, 2016 - The Concordia University Chicago Women's Soccer team traveled down Division Street to take on Dominican University as part of the first-ever River Forest Rivalry Cup, sponsored by Northwestern Mutual.  The weather conditions were not ideal as it was cold, and the rain came pouring down for most of the match. The Cougars came out hot though and continued their hot play in route to a 3-1 win over the rival Stars.

The Cougars came out fast with a goal within the first two minutes of the game by Nikki Anderson. Sarah LaCost found Anderson center of the box and she beat the goalie to her right to give CUC a quick 1-0 lead.  Eighteen minutes later, the ball found Anderson's foot again center of the box and she blasted an absolute rocket into the upper 90 of the net on the right side to give CUC a 2-0 lead.

The Cougars held the Stars scoreless in the first 45 minutes of the match with no real threat of Dominican scoring.  The best chance that the Stars had was on a free kick late in the half from about 20 yards out. Alyssa Messina was able to bend the ball around the Cougar wall, but Allyson Krajnak made a great diving save to her left.


Early in the second half, Dominican controlled most of the play being very aggressive on the offensive end. The back line of the Cougars held their ground and didn't let Dominican get off any real scoring chances.  In the 57th minute, LaCost set up Katie Biga beautifully just outside of the box, but the Stars' new goalkeeper kept the Cougars lead at two.  Ten minutes later, Dominican created their best opportunity of the game when Josseline Williams shot from far left of the box, but hit the side of the net for a Cougar goal kick.

The old saying that great defense leads to great offense was proven true in the 72nd minute. After stopping a potential Stars attack, Natalie Weinhold pushed the ball forward with a great pass to Alisha Johnson down the right side of the field, Johnson crossed the ball to the center of the box where Elizabeth Sanders was for the shot, but the shot went off the Stars'goalie's hands The ball fell right at the feet of Meghan Vasseur for an easy tap-in goal.

Late in the match, Dominican forced a Cougar handball in the box that lead to a Stars' penalty kick, which was converted to cut the lead to two and prevent a clean sheet for Krajnak. The Cougars' defense remained strong as the Stars came hard offensively, but in the end the Cougars earned the 3-1 victory. 

The stats after the final whistle showed nearly even between the two rival schools. Both teams took 10 total shots in the match and made five saves. The Cougars' ability to create chances early ultimately proved to be the deciding factor in the match.

The Cougars (5-3-1 2-1 NACC) will return to action when they travel to Madison, WI on Saturday, to take on Edgewood College at 3 p.m in another NACC matchup.