By Sam Firminhac, Athletic Communications
SEWARD, Neb. – Cheyenne Smith played hero Wednesday night (Sept. 29), scoring the lone goal for the Concordia University Women's Soccer team. Smith made her presence felt in her first appearance since the season opener. The Bulldogs defense and a fine performance by goalkeeper Kalie Ward kept visiting Midland off the scoreboard in a 1-0 nail-biter between two sides that know each other well.
Head Coach Thomas Goines team improved to 5-2-2 overall (2-0-2 GPAC). Goines knew that defense was going to be key against a worthy adversary.
“(Midland) is very athletic and dangerous especially on the counterattack, so we had to really focus in and lock in defensively all game,” Goines said. “We knew that offensively we may not be as strong going forward, but we really needed to sure up those backlines and manage their attacks and work for our results and find the goal we needed. It worked out today.”
Concordia's team defensive effort held the Warriors in check, only allowing five shots on goal and six shots total for Midland (5-5, 2-2 GPAC). Ward was there to clean up whatever made it past the back line, accumulating five saves in the process. The Bulldogs didn't have much going on offense either, only putting three shots on goal the entire match. Luckily, a hustle goal and a mistake by the Midland goalkeeper were all it took for Concordia to prevail.
Smith was proud of her team’s performance in her return. “Midland’s definitely a top team in our conference, they always are. We really, as a whole team, capitalized on them. We dominated the whole game and had multiple opportunities. Mine was just a capitalization on a mistake, but we had multiple run and play opportunities and I think it will be a good confidence boost going forward.”
Smith’s minutes were limited, but her impact goes beyond just the box score. The native of Alpine, Calif., has the ability to play anywhere on the field. “Cheyenne is the type of the player you just can’t replace. She brings so much athletically, physically and energy-wise off the field that people feed on.”
Goines went on to say that Midland is an opponent you don’t want to see in the postseason. The two teams met last year in the GPAC semifinals. The game was an instant classic as the Bulldogs managed to win on penalty kicks in the process of claiming the GPAC tournament title.
The Bulldogs travel to Mitchell, S.D., on Saturday for an afternoon conference matchup against Dakota Wesleyan. Last year's GPAC quarterfinal was the last time the two teams met. Concordia was victorious in that matchup. The game is set to kick off at 1 p.m. CT.