RIVER FOREST, Ill. -- In a physical match up, which included six combined yellow cards, along with celebrating
Panagiotis Zervas' Senior Day, the Concordia-Chicago men's soccer team fought the Northland College Lumberjacks to a 2-0 win this afternoon.
With the win, CUC heads into conference play with a 3-3 record, already matching their win total from the 2018 season.
Out possessing the Jacks 58-42 percent in the opening half, the Cougars controlled the momentum and pace of the entire first frame. With 13 shots in the first, Concordia wasted little time to find the back of the net. In just the 11th minute of the contest,
Michael Bogart one-timed a kick from behind his back off a clean cross from
Ian Gummo from the far side of the field to put CUC up early, 1-0.
With just under 15 minutes to go in the half, the Jacks threatened to equalize the game when Jose Vargas sent a shot into the lower third of the net. With the shot followed a Zervas save to preserve CUC's lead heading into the halftime break.
Northland came out of halftime with a rejuvenated energy, as the team was out shot just 12-11 by the Cougars in the second frame.
Jose Retana entered the match for CUC in net, and came up with six saves down the stretch to help the Cougars remain in control of the match.
With 10 minutes left to play, Concordia solidified its victory when
Alexis Gallegos found
Gerardo Medina inside the attacking zone. From there, Medina dodged a Jacks' defender and booted the ball into the bottom right corner of Northland's goal to win the match, 2-0.
CUC will return to the pitch on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at Aurora University to kick off Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.
