HASTINGS, Neb. – The Concordia women’s soccer team competed in the GPAC Semifinal match at No. 16 Hastings College on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs and Broncos played to a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes and went into a penalty kick shootout. The ‘Dogs will advance to the GPAC Championship after knocking off the first-seeded Broncos by winning the shootout, 5-3.
Said head coach Greg Henson, “We knew it was going to be a tough match. Hastings is the 16th-ranked team in the country for a reason and the top dog in our conference, so we knew we were in for a fight, that’s definitely what we wanted to come out and do…I love the fact that we were able to come back and score a goal right away.”
The Bulldogs are now 10-5-2 on this season while the Broncos move to 15-4-1.
Both the Concordia and Hastings goals came in the second half. The Broncos struck first when Taylor Geis scored off a ball from Heidi Bartsch 69 minutes into the match. Five and half minutes later, Maria Deeter answered back. Jeannelle Condame set up for a free kick that deflected off a Hastings player and found its way to the GPAC Player of the Week’s foot. Deeter sent to the ball across the goal line to tie things up at one apiece.
As the second overtime clock expired, Bulldog fans began to feel a similar tension. Just as the men’s squad had three days prior in their semifinal match, the women lined up for penalty kicks. Jessica Skerston took the first shot and made it while the Bronco’s first attempt was blocked by keeper Chrissy Lind. Condame, Maddison Hawkins, Deeter and Esther Soenksen all went on to make their shots. Hastings was able to sneak three by Lind but it was not enough to seal the shootout victory. The Bulldogs won the shootout, 5-3.
Senior Katrina Muther said, “I’m so proud of this team. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season. This team knows what to do when push comes to shove. The girls that will push through adversity and play their hearts out, that’s what helped us get this win today.”
Lind added nine saves to her 87 saves this season. The 96 total amount of saves exceeds her previous two seasons as keeper for Concordia. Bronco’s keeper, Anna Stewart put up two saves while allowing one goal in the contest.
“Chrissy has done a great job in her entire career and continues to grow as a goal keeper,” Henson added. “We’re extremely pleased with where she is right now. She had a couple really key saves for us in regulation and in overtime. In a shootout as a goal keeper, we ask you to make one save and we have a chance to win the game and she did that right off the bat. It took the pressure off our other players, all they had to do was score to win.”
The shot advantage was in Hasting’s favor, 16-4 on the night. Hastings also had the edge in corner kicks, 2-1.
Henson said on upcoming opponent, Morningside College, “It’s a quick turnaround…the last time we played them was a tough, one nothing loss at their place. It’s going to be a tough game. Anyone who gets to the tournament championship gets there because they deserve to be there.”
The fifth-seeded Concordia women’s soccer team will face second-seeded Morningside College on Saturday, Nov. 14 for the GPAC Tournament title. The match will take place in Sioux City, Iowa with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.
Henson said, "It goes down in the record books as a tie, but as far as I'm concerned it's a win for us."