September 23, 2017- The Cougars came into today's match looking for their first win of the season against Lakeland University. Both teams having scoring only three goals on the season looked to get something going to turn their seasons around. As the Cougars got their feet under them, they dominated possession and all parts of the pitch in their route of Lakeland 5-0.
Minutes within the match of starting, Concordia-Chicago had two great scoring chances. The first being Chris Arevalo fighting off a defender, and the second being Gerardo Medina lacing one right of the box, which Lakeland's goalkeeper had to make two good saves to keep the match scoreless. Midway through the first half, Medina put in a beautiful cross to Joel Krenz who settled the ball and fired it past the goalkeeper off the post and in to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. With ten minutes remaining in the half, freshman Aymen Maman had two prime scoring chances, but the Muskies keeper again made the saves to preserve the 1-0 lead head into halftime.
In the 53rd minute, the Cougars found some more space to work with as the ball found Fabian Robles' foot as he blasted one past the goalkeeper from about twenty yards to give CUC a 2-0 lead. Concordia-Chicago wasn't finished, the Cougars continued to control the ball and Medina again fed a great ball this time to Arevalo as he put one in the back of the net to give CUC a commanding 3-0 lead. Minutes later, CUC added another goal on a rebound header from Maman after he rocketed his first shot off the crossbar to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead. Rest of the match was much more defensive minded from Concordia-Chicago to close it out, but did find a way to score another goal by Maman to give the Cougars a well deserved 5-0 victory.
Head Coach Michael Arango had this to say about his team's victory this afternoon, "Today was a great team effort with all the guys really putting in 100 percent. On a real hot day today, everyone has to work together or the game would get away from you."
Coach Arango, asked what it meant to earn his first victory as a head coach and what it means for the program, replied, "It feels great to have a team that believes in each other and keeps fighting to watch it all come together. We won in the style that we want to continue to play going forward."
The Cougars (1-6, 1-1 NACC) return to action next Wednesday, September 27th, against Rockford University in Rockford, Illinois. Kick-off is set for 7:00pm.
