| Summary: | season ends in disappointment BY KRISTIN HOLTZ After a weekend of promise, the Con-cordia women's soccer team is experi-encing a mixture of disappointment and "It's such a BittersWeetending,*'said 7,. Head Coach Dan Weiler. "We knew we had a great year, and we felt we played well enough to win the championship. In a way, we also felt it was sort of a sour ending, not making it into the playoffs," Coming off a five-game win streak, which included k 3-0 win over St. Thomas in the semifinals, the Cobbers were confident against Macalester Sat-urday in the MIAC Championship, said senior forward Kelly Ping. The team was also looking for a little retribution after Macalester foiled the Cobbers' plans for a regular season title. Macalester dominated the first half, outshooting Concordia 5-1. However, Concordia kept the Scots off the board, taking a 0-0 tie into halftime. Freshman goalkeeper Britt Reiersgord, who took the 5-1 loss against the Scots Oct. 15, had one of her best games of her collegiate career. Though admittedly ner-vous coming into the game, she settled down to make five important saves. "It was nice to show them that we could play against them," Reiersgord said. As tfieasefcdnd half started up, the momentum shifted the Cobbers' way. The Cobbers poured on the shots. Junior Amy Ravenhorst had two scoring chances just a minute and a half apart, but the Scots goalkeeper made saves on both plays. The Cobbers continued laying on the pressure toward the end of the game with a 7-4 shot advantage At the end of regulation with two goose eggs on the Scoreboard, the Cob-bers definitely had the momentum, said Reiersgord. "Going into the overtime, every single one thought we were going to win," she said. It didn't take the Scots long to show why they're ranked third in the country with a 19-0-1 record. Macalester scored 4:06 into the sudden playoff of a header by Macalester's Cara Goff. "For everyone it was just complete shock," Reiersgord said. While the MIAC Championship eluded the Cobbers for the second-straight year with losses to Macalester, the team was satisfied with its performance Saturday. Concordia was the first team to keep the Scots from scoring in regulation all season long. "Everyone played a really solid game we could be proud of," Ping said. However, the team had the shock of the season Monday morning when the 15- 4 Cobbers were left out of the NCAA Dili tourney. For the Cobbers, it was more disappointment, Weiler said. "We had a great year, and we felt that we deserved to keep playing," he said. "It's really unfortunate the girls were not rewarded with more games." With an expanded field from 46 to 60 teams, the Cobbers were hopeful they would earn their first national playoff berth. The team, ranked seventh in its region before Saturday's Championship game, received a little help from the teams ranked higher, which all won their conferences and earned automatic berths. However, the Cobbers did not receive an at-large bid, leaving the team a little frustrated. "That's the goal we wanted to reach all season," Ping said. Even without the trip to nationals, the Cobbers did have one of their best years in the program's 23-year his-tory. The team set a program record for overall wins in a season with 15, leading the MIAC offensively with 50 goals. The season's success just highlights how the program has grown into a MIAC power-house. Over the past three years, the Cobbers have broken numerous records and built a high-quality program to attract strong recruits. As the team looks ahead, it loses one senior and is placing its focus on recruit-ment. "For next year, we're going to keep moving forward and bringing in new faces," Weiler said. "It was a really suc-cessful season despite how we ended up." Volleyball raises from the dead Cobbers receive unexpected berth BY KRISTIN HOLTZ It may sound like a story straight out the Bible, but the Concordia volleyball team will assure you it's been brought back to life. The Cobbers made an unex-pected appearance in the NCAA Dili playoffs Thursday night af-ter believing their season ended with a loss to St. Olaf last week. "It's like a new lease on life, said Head Coach Tim Mosser. "We were dead and now we're alive. Like Lazarus really." The team thought its season was over when it lost 3-0 to St. Olaf in the MIAC quarterfinals Nov. 1. However, the team found out on Monday it had earned an at-large bid to the national tourney. Concordia is one of four MIAC teams to make the play-offs, making its third-straight appearance. While the Cobbers didn't practice Wednesday through Sunday, Mosser said there is a new hunger and excitement among the players. In fact, they insisted on staying after practice Monday to get more drills in. Fifth-seeded Concordia played No. 4 Carleton yesterday afternoon. If they won, they play again tonight against No. l-seeded Washington University. If the Cobbers (21-4) want to continue their season, Mosser said they will have to focus on consistency. "When you get to this level, every team you play is good," he said. "The best team is the most consistent team and the most competitive team." Concordia received additional good news this week; Junior Becca Shane was named to the MIAC All-Conference team for the second consecutive season, leading the conference in blocks with an average 1.42 blocks per game. She also finished fourth in kills (4.0/game) and sixth in • hitting percentage (.275). She passed the i,ooo-kill mark this season and is currently six on the Cobber all-time kill list with 1,073- = S P O R T S S H O R T S = Concordia men's hockey sweeps Northland College in season opener Men's Hockey The Cobber men's hockey team were using brooms instead of sticks last weekend against North-land College, sweeping Northland 6-1 and 9-1. While the Cobbers have been preaching defense through preseason practice, they poured on the offense Friday night with 49 shots on goal. Concordia got on the board in the first minute of the game with a goal by Mike Vlasak '06. Northland came back and was down 2-1 at the end of the first period, but it was all Cobbers from there. Freshman Chris Babich scored his first two collegiate goalsr as Dan Perry '07 and Zack Ringsak '09 also tallied goals. Saturday night was much of the same. Eight different Cob-bers found the net, and Perry scored two goals for the second consecutive game. Perry, Babich and junior Mark Buchholz all recorded four points in the game. Three Cobbers minded the net during the weekend, tallying 35 saves and allowing only two goals. The Cobbers came out with their third win of the season, winning 4-3. Perry continues to lead the team early in the season, scoring two goals. He has 10 points in the first three games of the season. Freshman goalie Jeremy Boniface stopped 27 shots for his first collegiate victory. The Cobbers played UM-Crookston in their first away game of the season Tuesday night. The Cobbers came out with their third win of the season, winning 4-3. Perry continues to lead the team early in the season, scoring two goals. He has 10 points in the first three games of the season. Freshman goalie Jeremy Boniface stopped 27 shots for his first col-legiate victory. The Cobbers (3-0) take on Crookston again Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Moorhead Sports Com-plex. Women's Hockey The women's hockey team started its season on a rocky note, losing both games to 5th-ranked UW-Steven's Point. The Cobbers lost Saturday's season opener 10-0, giving up six goals in the final period. Fresh-man Hannah Valian started in the net for the Cobbers, giving up two goals in the first 20 minutes of play on nine shots, earning the loss. Goalie Jenna Johnson '06 played the rest of the game and finished with 24 saves. Concordia had 12 shots. After being trampled Saturday night, the Cobbers made an im-pressive comeback Sunday, hold-ing the Pointers to a 3-1 victory. Concordia played much better defense in the win, and freshman Britt VanderKooy scored her first collegiate goal on a power play. Concordia goalie Jenna Johnson made 36 saves. The Cobbers have the weekend off, hosting St. Ben's Nov.18-19 at the Moorhead Sports Complex for the their home and MIAC opener. Swimming & Diving Despite winning the first two events of the meet, the swimming and diving team fell to Macalester Saturday, losing the dual 140-100. Senior Annie Cullen started the meet off right with her second victory of the year in the l-meter diving competition. Freshman Sara Ryan followed right behind in second place. The duo also went 1-2 in the optional l-meter diving competition. Concordia's Lea Williams *o8, Shannon Brown '06, Dani Ree '08 and Cami Hendrickson '08 also won the 200-yard medley relay by a photo finis]}. The team swam a 2:63.75 to win by .07. However, it was all Scots from there despite some impressive runner-up per-formances by the Cobbers. Cullen looks to continue lead-ing the Cobbers' swimming and diving team into Hamline tonight before hosting St. Thomas in a Parent's Day meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the Concordia pool.
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