Concordia women’s soccer blitzes Mount Marty early, Andrews scores hat trick

Photo Description: Savannah Andrews prepares a shot

Photo Credit: Kayla Korb (Photo from previous game)

Darien Semedo

Sower Staff

The Concordia Bulldogs jumped on the Mount Marty Lancers early on Saturday (Sept. 16), winning 8-1 fueled by a quick hat trick from sophomore Savannah Andrews to open Great Plains Athletic Conference play in Seward, Neb.

The Bulldogs wasted no time Saturday afternoon against the Lancers. Concordia scored five quick goals in the first 21 minutes of play. Concordia took advantage of loose defensive play from Mount Marty early to get their first win of GPAC play.

 As the game settled, the next score would not come until Mount Marty forward, freshman Katelyn Powers scored at the 50-minute mark. Concordia then netted three more scores in the second half. This is Coach Smith’s inaugural season as the top man at Concordia so him and his staff challenged his athletes to jump out on top of the Lancers, and the team responded well. “We challenged them to have a good start today, we came off a good game earlier in the week and wanted to keep the momentum rolling,” he said. “This was our first GPAC game and we wanted to be ready, we have been building up to this moment with our pre-conference games and we executed today.”

Smith mentioned that the team was shut out the week prior to this one, and it was important for them to learn how to finish attacks and put the ball in the net. The offense enjoyed a scalding hot week, scoring 12 goals in two games, which is something that the team had been focusing on in practice according to Coach Smith. “We spend a lot of time working and fine-tuning, working on the final ball and building up to this week, that is where we had struggled,” Smith said. “Part of that is building confidence within the group and that confidence builds by putting the ball into the back of the net. We’ve scored eight goals in the first half of the last two games and that confidence builds more confidence.”

The front of the Bulldogs enjoyed their best day of the season together, with four Bulldogs finding the net. As noted, Andrews scored four goals, sophomore Kierstynn Garner scored two, while sophomore Niah Kirchner and sophomore Sierra Springer added one. Springer also supported the offensive scoring with two assists on the day.

Andrews and Garner now lead the GPAC in points with the Bulldogs at 5-2 on the season and are set to continue with GPAC play against Dordt University Sept. 20th in Seward, Neb.