BERRIEN SPRINGS, Mich. -- Looking to get back into the win column for the first time since opening day, the Concordia-Chicago men's soccer team traveled to Michigan to take on Andrews University for their penultimate non-conference match up this evening. The Cardinals battled CUC for 92 minutes, with the Cougars out shooting Andrews 22-10 to eventually pull off the 1-0 overtime victory.
Today's match was CUC's first overtime appearance since Sept. 9, 2017 when the Cougars fell 2-1 to Webster University.
The game got off to an exciting start almost immediately, as
Ryan Kuhlman was awarded a penalty kick in just the third minute of tonight's match. Despite the early chance to strike, Andrews' netminder Marcelo Mansur came up clutch for the Cardinals and stopped the early threat. Mansur's save against Kuhlman would be one of his nine saves throughout the contest.
Concordia-Chicago kept the pressure on Andrews in the first half, as the Cougars would notch five more shots, two on goal, in the first 15 minutes.
With less than 10 minutes to go in the half, the Cardinals threatened to get on the scoreboard as Christian Guttierez fired off a shot from outside the 20. However,
Jose Retana was able to come up with the stop and keep the match scoreless heading into the halftime break. Overall, the Cougars out shot Andrews 13-4 in the first half.
Both teams settled into place during the second half, each earning corner kick opportunities to create offense. In the 63rd minute, the Cardinals had a solid stretch in their own attacking zone where they rifled three shots on net and earned a corner. Despite the surge,
Panagiotis Zervas came up with three big saves to shut down the home team.
With quality defense coming from both squads, the game would eventually be forced into overtime. To CUC's delight, the Cougars wasted little time in the extra frame as
Fabian Aranda found
Gerardo Medina on the run to net the golden goal.
With tonight's win, CUC improves to 2-3 on the year and will return to the pitch this Saturday to take on Northland College.
