Women’s Soccer Finishes Regular Season Play with Victory

Photo by Natasha Torno

by Jacy Johnston

Concordia’s women’s soccer team ended its regular season with a road victory over the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 29 with a final score of 4-1.

Dakota Wesleyan netted a goal in the first five minutes of the game. Concordia did not score before the halftime break despite the team’s nine shots in the first half.

Coming out after half, Concordia’s offense heated up quickly and freshman midfielder Sami Birmingham scored the first goal from an assist by junior forward Esther Soenksen. Sophomore midfielder Maria Deeter gave Concordia the lead 76 minutes into the game, using an assist from junior defender Jeannelle Condame. In the next ten minutes, Concordia secured a lead off of two assists from Birmingham leading to goals by Soenksen and junior forward Jessica Skerston.

Concordia outshot Dakota Wesleyan 23-1, with Dakota Wesleyan connecting their single shot on goal.

“We’ve been able to connect really well and as a result, our team has been able to control the past few games,” said senior goalkeeper Chrissy Lind. “This past weekend was a good test for us, as we were down going into the second half, but came back and put Wesleyan away.”

Concordia finished the regular season with a 12-5-1 overall record. In the GPAC, Concordia tallied a 7-3 record for third place in conference prior to the GPAC tournament.

Concordia begins play Tuesday, Nov. 1 against Briar Cliff University at Bulldog Stadium. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.

Lind noted great team chemistry on and off the field for the Bulldogs heading into the GPAC tournament.

“Even though we have beaten Briar Cliff earlier this season, we are not going to look past them,” Lind said. “We take post-season one game at a time which I believe has made us successful in the past few GPC tournaments.”