Early Goal, Stingy Defense Delivers Semifinal Berth

Box Score 

(11/17/07 - Men's Soccer) OLATHE, Kan. - An early goal by all-American Jeff Clark was enough for a rock-solid defense to give #6-seeded Concordia a 2-0 win over 19th-seeded Embry-Riddle (Fla.), Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 49th Annual NAIA Men's Soccer National Championships.

The first possession of the game proved in theory to be the only one the Eagles would need to earn a spot in their first-ever national semifinal. Eric Mendoza was fouled just outside the Embry-Riddle box left of the penalty arc. As the Eagles set up for the free kick, Mickey Mendoza touched the ball to the right of Clark. The Concordia leading scorer fired a shot that found its way through the hands of Embry-Riddle netminder Ian Levine and trickled into the net just 90 seconds into the contest.

"It's obviously big for us to get that early goal because we always play better when we're ahead," said head coach Don Ebert, who improved his record to 3-1 in national tournament play. "Embry-Riddle was a tough team to play against and it was not one of our better games, but we found a way to win."

The style Ebert spoke about was a very direct approach that saw the Region XIV champions play long passes out of their defensive line to the forwards up top. Embry-Riddle also played balls into the Concordia area from each flank at every opportunity, forcing the Concordia backs to clear numerous headers out of the danger area.

Fortunately for the Eagles, the four-man backline of Mike Mirzadeh, Ryan Angell, Joel Smith and Brad Smith was up to the task. Though Embry-Riddle had a 25-7 edge in shots, many of those shots were from long range and did not threaten the Concordia nets. Add in 7 saves by Mike Borst and the Eagles came up with their 15th shutout of the season.

"It's a lot easier when you get that early goal and you don't have to worry about chasing the game," said Joel Smith, one of three Eagles named to the all-NAIA Region II team. "All four of us made sure that we covered each other today and it worked out pretty well."

Though Embry-Riddle had long spells with the ball, it took just one moment of brilliance by Concordia to put the game out of reach.

Mike Mirzadeh picked up the ball near midfield and dribbled into the offensive half. He picked out Jon Fahey moving toward the top of the arc with a low pass. Fahey cut to his left and fired a 22-yard shot that tailed away from Levine and into the top left corner to double the advantage at 65:05.

Concordia looked poised to kill off the remainder of the game, but one poor decision nearly made the last two minutes much tighter. With yet another ball played into the Concordia area, Mike Borst was ruled to have charged through an Embry-Riddle player, resulting in a penalty shot.

Joe Yoffe stepped to the spot to try and halve the deficit, but Borst read the shot to his right and pushed the ball around the post. A final attempt after the corner kick by Michael Scott went wide and Concordia celebrated its second win in as many days.

"I told the guys that playing against a style like that for 90 minutes is no fun," said Ebert. "All four of the guys in the back were consistent and played very well. Fahey scored a phenomenal goal, but we won this game with our defense."

Concordia (18-3) has a day of rest before facing 10th-seeded Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), a 2-1 winner of #2-seeded Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), on Monday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m. The semifinal game will once again be available via pay-per-view webcast through the NAIA website.