St. Thomas Game Stats - Now Online!

St. Thomas Game Photo Gallery - Now Online!

MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Concordia stuck to their tried and true theory of scoring early and pressing their oppoenent into mistakes as the cruised past St. Thomas 3-0 and advanced to the MIAC Championship game for the second straight season.

Concordia is now 12-0 on the year when scoring the first goal of the game.

The victory continues to add to the Cobbers' record-setting win total in 2005. Concordia is now 15-3-0 on the season which is a program record for most victories in a season. St. Thomas finished their year with a record of 9-8-1.

The win is the first for Concordia in the MIAC tournament. Last year they advanced to the championship game by ending in a tie with St. Olaf in the semifinals and advanced on penalty kicks.

St. Thomas remains winless in their two trips to the conference championship playoffs.

The Cobbers received a goal just 1:13 into the game when junior defender Betsy Olesen struck a free kick from 50 yards out that flew over the top of St. Thomas goalie Dana Vilar and underneath the crossbar. The goal was Olesen's second of the season and immediately put Concordia at ease and the Tommies on their toes.

Concordia controlled the middle of the field for most of the first half but could not come up with another goal. The Cobbers, who outshot St. Thomas 8-0 in the opening period, were finally able to put a little distance between themselves and the Tommies when Morgan Bain scored her 16th goal of the year at 35:38.

St. Thomas had the most threatening offensive attack in the first five minutes of the second half. The Tommies pressed the Cobber defense and had several crosses land just in front of oncoming attackers.

The Tommie threat was short-lived as Amy Ravenhorst finished off a scoring sequence with a well-placed header. Ravenhorst beat the St. Thomas defender to the ball on a cross by Rachel Lewis and deftly headed the ball into the lower left corner of the net.

Leading 3-0, Concordia was able to pull back and make the Tommies try and beat all 10 defenders. It wasn't until late in the second half when St. Thomas was finally able to get off a shot towards the goal.

In the end, Concordia outshot St. Thomas 14-1 overall and had a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal.

The Cobbers held a 3-1 margin in corner kicks in a game that was played in between the penalty areas due to a swirling cross-field win.

Vilar made six saves in goalie for the Tommies, whiel Concordia keeper Britt Reiersgord did not have to make a stop in posting her 15th win of the year. She now has eight shutouts on the season which ties the program record for shutouts in a season set last year by Ashley Liegakos.

The Cobbers advance to the MIAC Championship game on Saturday. Concordia will play the winner of the Macalester/Augsburg game. If the #1 seed Macalester wins, Concordia will play at Macalester on Saturday. If #4 seed Augsburg is victorious then the Cobbers will host the Auggies on Saturday. In either case, the  time of the game will be determined on Wednesday.