RIVER FOREST, ILL. — With a windy and rainy day ahead of them, the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) women's soccer team had a face off against sister school, Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW). Prior to today's match, nine seniors were honored for their dedication to the Cougar women's soccer program. On a magical day, the Cougars were able to defeat the Falcons with a final score of 1-0. This marks their first win over CUW since the 2016 season and only their second win all-time over this rival.
Inside the Box Score:
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Picking up the lone goal of the day on her senior day, Julianna Paulsen (Villa Park, Ill.) made a huge goal in the 87th minute
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Auloni Burnell (Riverside, Calif.) spent all 90 minutes in goal and totaled up 11 saves
Nine seniors were honored prior to the start of the match; these athletes were: Paulen, Hannah Bowers (Helena, Mont.), Allie Brown (St. Louis, Mo.), Meagan Wilkinson-McQuaid (Georgetown, Ky.), Jamie Seibert (Arlington Heights, Ill.), Grace Glodoski (Plainfield, Ill.), Medelin Loza (Cicero, Ill.), Itzel Calderon (Oak Lawn, Ill.), and Lucia Fullone (Lake in the Hills, Ill.).
First Half
The Cougars would be the first team on target, as Wilkinson-McQuaid shot on goal, but was stopped by the Muskies keeper. The Falcons made a quick response, having back-to-back shots, both stopped by Burnell. Both teams began to trade off attempts back and forth, but neither team could find the room past the defenders. Luciana Morán Cruz (Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico) would pop out the final shot on goal of the half, but the game would be scoreless 0-0 going into the half.
Second Half
This game would be almost entirely stalemated until the final minutes of the game. Both teams would make huge offensive pushes to start the half and begin to try and find a way to score. It would be the Falcons on the attack first, having four total shots on goal to start the game, all stopped by Burnell.
Loza would have a shot on goal as well, then followed up by one off of the cross bar, just narrowly missing the goal line. Burnell would pick up two more saves as the second half was almost halfway over with no goals scored by either team. A corner kick for the Cougars led to a Seibert shot just narrowly out of reach, still keeping the game scoreless.
The Cougars would find themselves with the ball in their court and Valeria Fernandez (Burbank, Ill.) would barely miss on her attempt to score. However, this perfectly set up Paulsen to make her attempt and score the lone goal of the day 1-0. With only a few minutes to spare, the Falcons could not even attempt to score this late into the game. The Cougars remained victorious on senior day with a final score of 1-0.
The Cougars will be back at Concordia Stadium on Wednesday as they host Edgewood College for a 2 p.m. start time. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
