Concordia Women’s Soccer Advances to GPAC Championship
by Garrett Suchanek
The Concordia women’s soccer team advanced to the GPAC championship for the second straight year by taking down the No. 16 Hastings Broncos on Tuesday night in a penalty kick shootout. The Bulldogs squeaked by the Broncos 5-3 on penalty kicks after the game remained tied 1-1 following the second overtime.
Concordia wouldn’t have gotten to the penalty kicks if it wasn’t for great defense and key saves by the Bulldogs’ goalie, junior Chrissy Lind. Lind had nine saves for the night.
In the second half, Hastings continually applied pressure on Concordia’s side of the field. In the 70th minute, the Broncos slid a goal by Lind to give Hastings a 1-0 lead.
Despite being outshot in the second half 7-2, the Bulldogs made good work of their limited chances.
At the 75:06 mark, freshman Maria Deeter netted the equalizer for the Bulldogs to make it 1-1.
For the rest of regulation, neither team came close to finding the net again.
As the first half of overtime began, Hastings continued to attack, but failed to score a goal.
However, in the second overtime period, Lind’s save kept Concordia in the game. Late in the period, Hastings had two opportunities to take the lead and win, but both were denied by Lind.
After the end of the second overtime, both teams prepared for the penalty kick shootout.
Concordia started off on the right foot by netting its first kick. However, the Broncos didn’t have the same luck. On Hastings’ first kick, Lind blocked it to preserve a 1-0 lead.
After Hastings’ first miss, all the kickers that Concordia and Hastings sent made their shots.
When the Bulldogs’ sophomore Esther Soenksen stepped up as the fifth kicker, the shootout was 4-3 in favor of the Bulldogs. If Soenksen made the shot, Concordia would win.
Soenksen buried the shot in the bottom right corner of the net to send the Bulldogs back to the GPAC championship game.
Concordia will look to capture its second straight GPAC tournament championship at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13 against Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
