Men's Soccer 10/10/06 -- Augsburg 3, Concordia-Moorhead 0

BOXSCORE

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/10/06) -- And the beat goes on for the Augsburg College men's soccer team.

Alec Rabine (Jr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) registered a two-goal effort for the second time in his last three games, Alex Hildebrandt (Fr., St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park HS) had two assists, and Augsburg goalkeeper Pascaul Venter (So., Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) made seven saves to record his 11th shutout of the season in goal, as the Auggies dispatched host Concordia College-Moorhead 3-0 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Tuesday afternoon at Jake Christiansen Athletic Complex.

Augsburg, now 11-1-2 overall and 3-1-2 in league play, claimed its 13th shutout of the season in its 14th contest. Concordia is now 3-7-1 overall, 0-6-1 in MIAC play.

The Auggies entered Tuesday's play with the top defense, statistically, in the NCAA Division III national rankings -- leading the nation in team goals-against-average (0.15), shutout percentage (0.92) and save percentage (.968). Meanwhile, Venter entered the game leading the nation in both goals-against-average (0.165) and save percentage (.966).

After Tuesday's game, the Auggies left still unscored upon in all but one game this season -- with its team goals-against-average now at 0.14 and save percentage at .971. And with seven saves, including five in the first half, Venter's GAA dropped to 0.15 and his save percentage improved to .969 with his single-season school-record 11th shutout.

"These were two points we needed to get if we really want to put ourselves in a position to keep playing in November, and I was proud of the way we collected them," said Augsburg head coach Greg Holker. "Facing a strong wind in the first half, I thought our team played its most attractive soccer of the season. We combined for more first-time passes in a a couple of sequences than we had all year combined."

Rabine notched his first goal of the game in the 25th minute, off an assist by Hildebrandt. He tallied his second goal 56 seconds into the second half on a penalty kick, the Auggies' second converted opportunity of the season.

Andrew Connor (Jr., Becket, Mass./North Muskegon (Mich.) HS) finished the scoring for the Auggies in the 52nd minute, collecting his fourth goal of the season, also from Hildebrandt.

"Alec Rabine is playing extremely well lately. He has clipped four goals in the last three games," Holker said. "Alex Hildebrandt gave us a strong performance in the final third, as he set up two of our goals today. Andrew Connor's goal was a fantastic piece of skill. He is starting to come into form at the right time."

Augsburg has now outscored its opponents by a 30-2 margin this season.

Concordia outshot Augsburg by a 10-6 margin in the first half, but Augsburg claimed an 11-2 advantage in shots in the second half for a 17-12 advantage in the game. Augsburg had seven corner kicks (five in the second half) to Concordia's one.

Mads Schmidt (So., Skive, Denmark) collected five saves in goal for the Cobbers.

Both teams return to MIAC play with games on Saturday (10/14). Augsburg hosts St. Mary's at 7 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field, while Concordia hosts Macalester at 3 p.m.

"(SMU's) Mike Schmidt poses a serious threat for every team; it won't be any different on Saturday night," Holker said.