ORANGE CITY, Iowa. – Playing after the men’s game, left a field that was wet and torn through before Concordia women's soccer matched up against Northwestern. The conditions didn’t slow down the Bulldog offense, scoring eight unanswered goals in a route (8-0) over the Red Raiders on their home pitch. Elena Ruiz got CUNE started and kept going as she had a hat trick by the 48th minute, showing her offensive prowess along with many others.
The Dawgs are 7-2 overall and 3-0 in the GPAC midway through the season. Head coach Nick Smith spoke on his players' showing tonight.
“We have a lot of players that are becoming more and more comfortable in front of the net. We have been working with Elena to pick her spots and it felt like she really capitalized on what she had been practicing. We felt like her only missing piece was goal scoring until tonight. We had a great save from both goalkeepers and Kate Smith added her first collegiate goal and another assist tonight.”
It had been since the season opener that Elena Ruiz had scored a goal. Eight matches later she found three scores in one night. Ruiz stole the ball from a Northwestern defender inside the Red Raider penalty area, slid the ball to her right foot and smashed a ball into the far bottom corner in the 14th minute. Less than one minute later, Savannah Andrews dropped a ball right at the feet of Ruiz and she finished once again for the score. She would have her third goal in the opening minutes of the second half.
Sadie Mares, the Arizona product, has garnered playing time early in her freshman campaign in the defensive third. Waiting for the free kick from Andrews, the defender headed the ball far out of the box at the feet of Mares. Sadie made the strike and bent the ball just inside the top right post for the third score of the half.
With the Red Raiders hanging on by a thread, the Bulldogs’ Kierstynn Garner (1) and Sierra Springer (2) scored three goals to put the game out of reach in the second half.
in the final minute, Kassidy Johnson kicked a smooth pass through for a wide open Kate Smith. Kate ran the ball down and crushed the ball on a line, straight past the keeper for her first collegiate score.
CUNE outshot their opponents 21-11 and owned a 9-1 corner advantage through 90 minutes. The Bulldogs had 14 shots on goal in the match.
Concordia (7-2, 3-0 GPAC) will come back and face their toughest test to date against Midland (6-2-1, 3-0 GPAC) in Seward, Nebraska. First kick is set at 8 p.m. CT, under the lights of Bulldog Stadium. The series was tied at 13-13-3 before the Warriors won (3-1) in Fremont, Nebraska in 2022.