MONMOUTH, Ore.—Facing a nationally-ranked opponent for the second straight outing, Western Oregon University fell to No. 10-ranked Concordia University, 3-0, at home on Tuesday afternoon.
Kasey Ames scored the eventual game-winning for Concordia (8-0-1, 5-0-0 GNAC) in the 31st minute while Kyra Radcliffe posted a second-half brace with successful strikes in the 55th and 63rd minutes to put the game away.
"Playing a quality team, you can't have little hiccups," said Western Oregon head coach
Steve Ancheta. "Top quality groups in our conference won't give you a lot. When they give you opportunities around the goal, you have to score. We knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us with how talented they are."
After being outshot 9 to 0 in the first half, Western Oregon (4-5-2, 2-3-1 GNAC) matched CU's total with five attempts in the second 45 minutes of play.
Searching for what would have been an equalizer at the time,
Kaili Brundage lifted WOU's lone shot on goal in the 53rd minute of play, only for CU goalkeeper Hailey Asato to corral the drive.
Later in the second half, the Wolves earned three successive corner kicks that dropped enticingly near the netting for a threat to break the shutout, but were unable to finish the exchange before a CU clearance
"We did some good stuff to keep ourselves in the game. We had a few chances to tie it up, but that second goal really took the wind out of us. A team like that will sense something like that and really apply the pressure. We just had three games in six days with some great opponents and it really took its toll on us."
Keeping the Wolves off the board, CU's shutout streak extended to six straight matches. The Cavs have allowed just three goals in nine matches this season for a 0.33 goals against average.
Western Oregon will remain at home this week with a Saturday match against Simon Fraser University. Opening kick against SFU is set for 1 p.m. at the WOU Soccer Field.
