Women's Soccer 11/1/06 -- MIAC Playoff Semifinals -- Concordia-Moorhead 1, Augsburg 0

BOXSCORE

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/1/06) -- Morgan Bain scored the lone goal of the game on an unassisted shot from 25 yards out in the 60th minute, giving Concordia College-Moorhead a 1-0 victory over Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason playoff semifinal game Wednesday afternoon at Jake Christiansen Stadium.

Concordia, winners of the MIAC regular-season title, improve to 12-5-2 overall and advance to host No. 2-seed Carleton which topped No. 3-seed Macalester 1-0 in the other semifinal, in the playoff championship game on Saturday in Moorhead. The winner of Saturday's game receives an automatic bid to the national tournament.

Augsburg finished its season at 10-6-2 overall with the loss.

The Knights' victory over Macalester also means that a team other than the Scots will win the conference tournament for the first time since the league went to a postseason playoff in 2003.

"I was very proud of our team today. They played their hearts out," said Augsburg head coach Mike Navarre. "It was well-fought match between two solid teams. In the end, Morgan Bain showed us why she was the MIAC MVP last year; there are only a handful of players in the country at any level that can score a goal like she did today."

Concordia outshot Augsburg by a 14-4 margin, including a 9-0 margin in the second half. Auggie goalkeeper Maggie DeGroot (So., Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha West HS) came up with six saves in a losing effort. Britt Reiersgord collected one save for the Cobbers in goal.

Bain had six shots for the Cobbers, while Suzy Grabko had three shots. Jackie Keller (Jr., Traverse City, Mich./Traverse City West HS), Emily Anderson * (Sr., Hudson, Wis.), Shannon Olson * (Sr., Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy HS) and Katie Medd (So., Mankato, Minn./East HS) had shots for the Auggies.

The Cobbers are now 2-3-1 in their four MIAC playoff appearances. Concordia is 2-0-1 in conference tournament games played at home. Despite making the league playoffs for the third straight year, Augsburg is still in search of their first playoff victory. They are now 0-3 in conference tournament play.

"It's difficult to take. We played the top teams well this year, losing in the last 5 seconds to Macalester on a fluke goal, beating Carleton, and losing to Concordia in the final minutes and then today on an amazing shot," Navarre said. "Despite our efforts, we came up a little short. I know the players wanted -- perhaps deserved -- more. However, I take solace in the fact that our program is not simply about results, it's about relationships. The players played for each other this year and we will honor the legacy of our seniors who played their last game today by continuing our commitment to improving the program."

Concordia held a 14-4 advantage in shots on goal for the game but neither team was able to come up with anything resembling a quality chance on goal. The Cobbers and Auggies traded spurts in the first half where one team would hold the better part of the play.

The second half began with the Auggies finding an offensive rhythm and holding the ball in the Cobber end of the field for the first few minutes of play. The halftime energy finally wore off and Concordia started to build their attack from the middle of the field. The Cobbers continually chipped away at the Augsburg defense by getting behind on the wings.

The pivotal point of the game came when Bain won possession of the ball 40 yards outside the Auggie goal on the right side of the field. She then took a few dribbles to clear herself and then cut the ball into the inside past a defender. With her next touch she launched a screaming shot that heated up the cold afternoon and found the upper left corner of the net to put Concordia up 1-0 at 59:26.

The game went back-and-forth until the final eight minutes when Augsburg made a final push to get the game-tying goal. The closest they came was in the final two minutes on a goalmouth scramble where the ball ricocheted around the middle of players by the penalty spot before being cleared out of play by a Cobber defender.

In the end, Concordia goalie Reiersgord needed to make only one save to earn her 11th shutout of the season. She continues to improve on her school record total for shutouts in a single season and overall career shutouts. She now has 19 shutouts in her first two years of play.

Augsburg goalie DeGroot made six stops in the game including a nice full-out diving save in the first half on a Bain offering.

Bain finished the game with a game-high six shots. Senior midfielder Grabko added three more. Four different Augsburg players had one shot each. The most dangerous chance came from the foot of substitute Medd, who tracked down a ball behind the Concordia defense in the first half, but her shot from inside the penalty area went just wide to the right.

Concordia owned the 14-4 edge in total shots, but also held a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal. The Cobbers had the upper hand in corner kicks as well (4-2).