Michelle St. Louis

Wildcats Fall to Concordia 3-0

10/1/2017 2:35:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information - Todd Ryals

Box Score

Saturday afternoon the Louisiana College men's soccer team faced off against Concordia Univ. Tornadoes in an American Southwestern Conference showdown at Wildcat Field.
An early penalty kick would be all that was needed for Concordia to be victorious but two second half goals finished the Cats off with a 3-0 score line.

Kicking off around 1:30 p.m., the cloudless Louisiana sky would get to the Wildcats, causing a sluggish start. From the get go, the Tornadoes were pinging around and causing difficulties for LC, adding pressure when the Cats had possession in their half.

Lose passes from the midfield gave Concordia life, beating the backline to shoot at keeper Nathan Gautreaux. The shell-shocked defense was in a pinch constantly in front of the growing Tornado attack.

In the 13th minute, the Tornadoes would be presented their chance. Seconds before the goal, Concordia took a corner kick and while the ball was in flight an LC defender got mixed up with a Tornado attacker, fouling the player for a penalty kick. Lining up to take the kick was Nash Cole, taking his approach shooting the ball calmly down the middle of the goal taking Gautreaux out of the play when he dove right.

The Cats would not respond to the early lead change, not creating any attack in the first half. The midfield of LC was nonexistent, the overflow of Tornadoes made it challenging to move the ball away from their goal.

Luckily for the Cats, when the Tornadoes were in front of goal their shots flew wide or where in the reach of Gautreaux, collecting four saves in the first half and two in the second.

The second half started worlds better for the Cats. An excellent volleyed strike from Leo Osawa and a cracking header by Kris Boerjesson looked to have put the Cats up but ready and in position, Concordia keeper Rob Oakley denied the comeback early after the restart.

Later in the half the Cats were able to possess the ball out of the back and move it forward but a takeaway around midfield put the Cats on edge. The counterattack did not mount a shot but instead a corner. From the Alejandro Labastida corner, Eric Bigon was able to out jump an LC defender and put his head to the ball generating too much speed for Gautreaux. The 60th minuye goal gave Concordia a two-goal lead and some breathing room.

Later, a foul on Concordia gave LC a chance to play a long ball into the box off a free kick. The free kick found the backside of the box but Oakley judged the flight correctly grabbing the ball and switched the field with his punt.

Getting on the end of the punt was Zak Bergstrom and from there he attacked the backline. Two other Tornadoes pushed forward out numbering the two LC defenders. Coming across the backline Joel Abrego found space on the left side of LC beating the last defender going one on one against Gautreaux. The shot beat his left outstretched leg making it 3-0 in the 67th.

The Cats would try to comeback behind fresh legs, using majority of the roster in the remaining minutes. The game would look better for them as they attacked the goal more but solid defending by Concordia would keep the game at 3-0 until the final whistle blew.

The loss drops LC to a 1-7 record for the season and 1-4 in conference action. The Cats are on the road this weekend traveling to Abilene, Texas to face the War Hawks of McMurry Univ. on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and the Hardin-Simons Univ. Cowboys on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., both in ASC play. For more on the LC Men's Soccer Team following them on FaceBook under Louisiana College Men's Soccer, Instagram and twitter at LC_MSOC.

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