Late Sterling goal not enough to top No. 21 Bulldogs
DENVER, Colo. – The No. 21 Concordia women’s soccer team topped Sterling College (Kan.), 2-1 on Saturday, Sept. 15. Esther Soenksen scored her 10th goal of the season for the first goal of the match. Putting the Bulldogs up 2-0 was Jessica Skerston, scoring her third goal of the year.
Said head coach Greg Henson,"It took us a few minutes to settle into the game this afternoon. Once we did I thought we possessed the ball and created several quality goal scoring opportunities. Megan Brunssen had a strong performance off the bench and sent in a nice service for our second goal."
In the first half, the ‘Dogs scored nearly 30 minutes into the match. Soenksen scored on a feed from Jessica Skerston from 15 yards out. Six minutes later, Skerston found the back of the net off one touch from a cross by Megan Brunssen. The lone goal for the Warriors came in the last 10 seconds of the match from Lesly Salazar.
"Skerston and Soenksen combined well up from again today and that culminated in Esther's first half goal off a nice feed from Skerston. We did a nice job of managing the game in the second half could have had a couple of additional goals but hats off to their goal keeper with a strong second half performance" said Henson.
At keeper for Concordia was Chrissy Lind. She recorded three saves in 90 minutes. Also playing all 90 minutes was Sterling’s keeper, Michaela Moore who made seven saves. The Bulldogs shot the ball 12 times with 10 on goal while the Warriors tallied eight shots, four on goal.
Five different Bulldogs took at least one shot with Soenksen leading in the category. The Lincoln native shot the ball five times, all on goal and made one goal.
The win marks CUNE’s fifth triumph of the season, improving their record to 5-1 while Sterling College falls to 5-2.
On tomorrow's upcoming competition, Henson said, "Tomorrow will be our first and only experience this season with back to back games and that will test our fitness level and strength of our reserves. Giving up the goal with six seconds left in the match was a disappointment so we have to have the mental toughness to finish off games."
Sunday, Sept. 20, the No. 21 Bulldogs will be back on the pitch in Commerce City, Colo., when they take on Johnson & Wales University at 1 p.m. (CDT) at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.