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MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/15/08)-- Concordia scored a pair of goals less than three minutes apart to rally and beat St. Ben's 3-2 in Moorhead on Friday. The win clinches a spot in the MIAC playoffs for the Cobbers. It is the first time since the 2002-03 season that CC has earned a spot in the conference tournament. The victory also secures at least third place for Concordia. The Cobbers can finish no worse than third which means they will play a semifinal game in the league tournament on Saturday, Mar. 1.

Concordia is now 9-4-2 in the MIAC which is the most conference wins in a single season since CC went 12-5-1 in 2002-03. The Cobbers even their overall record for the first time all season. They are now 9-9-2 in all games. St. Ben's fall for the third straight game and moves to 4-9-2 in the MIAC and 4-13-2 overall.

Bre Bian had a goal and two assists to lead the Cobber offense on Friday, while sophomore goalie Maddie Haroldson turned aside 19 shots to earned her third straight win and sixth overall on the year.

The Cobbers almost lost the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot in a span of 3:13 at the end of the first period and start of the second period. After Concordia got on the board first on a goal by senior captain Ceara Bergsrud at 7:57 of the opening frame, the Blazers countered with a goal just :06 seconds before the end of the period and then 3:07 into the second period. Bian got the first of her two assists on the night on Bergsrud's first goal of the year. On the goal Bergsrud took a shot from in between the face off circles and then was able to slam home her own rebound.

The pair of St. Ben's goals came from two seemingly harmless plays. The first goal at the end of the first period came when Haroldson misplayed a shot from Maggie Kinney and had the puck bounce over the top of her glove and into the net. The second goal came from a goalmouth scramble. Abby Milton was able to connect on her second goal of the year after she was left alone in front of the CC goal.

The game appeared to be headed into the final minutes of play with the Blazers clinging to a one-goal lead. That changed at 9:06 when CSB was whistled for an interference penalty. Concordia took little time to capatilize on the power play. Bian scored her sixth goal of the year just 10 seconds into the man-advantage situation. Bian was able to slam home the rebound after an assist from Brit Vander Kooy.

Concordia got the game-winning goal less than three minutes later when the league's hottest scorer connected on her fourth goal in the past three games. Alyssa Dahl, this week's MIAC Co-Player of the Week, redirected a shot from Kristina Westmark to give the Cobbers the lead at 3-2 with less than eight minutes to play. For Dahl it was her seventh goal of the season. She has now scored at least one point in eight of the team's last nine games.

The Concordia defense was able to finish off the game by not allowing CSB to get a shot off in the final 7:40 of play.

For the game, the Cobbers outshot the Blazers 24-21. CC went 1-for-3 on the power play, while CSB was held scoreless in their three attempts. St. Ben's goalie Abbie Helminen made 21 saves in the game and was dealt her seventh loss of the year.

The biggest statistical advantage came in face offs. Concordia held a 40-20 advantage in face offs won with the biggest win coming with :05 seconds left on the clock and a face off just to the right of Haroldson. Bian was able to tie up her Blazer counterpart and have the clock wind down before St. Ben's could come up with a quality scoring chance.

The two teams will finish off the two-game series on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.