Eagles End Season One Win Short of Title

Box Score 

(11/20/07 - Men's Soccer) OLATHE, Kan. - Despite playing some of its best soccer of the season, #6-seeded Concordia could not find the offensive answer for top-seeded Azusa Pacific, falling 2-0 in the championship game of the 49th Annual NAIA Men's Soccer National Championships.

The Cougars seemed to have the number of the Eagles this season, outscoring them 6-0 in two meetings this season. Though the rematch was a much tighter and competitive affair than their first meeting in Azusa back on October 17, the result played out the same as the Cougars held the Concordia offense in check.

Despite the setback, the Eagles still enjoyed their finest season in program history. The 19 wins were the most in a single season in school history while they also earned their first three national tournament victories. Jeff Clark took over the career records for goals and points in a career while Mike Borst finished as the program's all-time leader in shutouts and goals against average. As a team, the Eagles set a record for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal, clocking almost 1,000 minutes between opposing tallies.

With the wind once again directly in their face to start the game, the Eagles did their best to keep the Cougars off the board and at least keep the score even through the first 45 minutes. The Eagles were four minutes from achieving their goal, but could not quite make it to the break.

The Cougars had the ball on the left wing and Sven Simon picked up the ball, dribbling into the box. He drew Mike Borst out of the net and briefly lost possession. However, the ball remained free and Simon quickly got it back, tapping a quick shot that took a deflection and went into the corner.

The second half saw the possession edge shift clearly to the Eagles as they patiently looked for an equalizer as the Cougars maintained their defensive shape. While the chances were hard to come by, the Eagles did manage to continue pressing toward goal.

Jon Carlson had one of the better chances of the half with just over 15 minutes remaining, picking up the ball outside the right corner of the box and driving toward goal. James Crawford managed to corral the high attempt at goal, the last chance the Eagles would get before the Cougars would double their advantage.

With the minutes winding down and the Eagles pushing more numbers forward, the Cougars took advantage of a counterattack to grab a second goal. Simon once again terrorized the Eagles as he set up Ashkon Banihashemi to curl in a shot from the top of the box that eluded the reach of Borst.

Azusa Pacific (20-1-1) posted a 28-4 edge in shots, 22 of those coming in the opening 45 minutes. However, just 10 of those were on target as the Eagles frustrated their rivals for much of the first half. Borst, who was named the Defensive Player of the Tournament, made eight saves in his final collegiate game while Crawford had four stops to earn the shutout. Jon Fahey and Mike Mirzadeh were also named to the all-tournament team.