(Livonia, MI) After a four-game winning streak to make the 6th seed of the WHAC playoffs, the Cardinals faced 3rd ranked Madonna University in the first round of the Tournament. The Crusaders controlled much of the game in their attacking third of the field and scored the lone goal of the game off of a penalty kick in the 52nd minute to move on in the conference playoffs.
Madonna pressured the Cardinal defense with runs up the right side of the field and forced Spencer Ward to make several saves, including one where he had to come out of the net to stop the attacking Crusader. The Crusaders earned back to back corner kicks, but Ward was able to punch the ball away in both cases. Several more attempts for Madonna went just wide, but the Cards maintained the scoreless draw. It wasn't until the 40th minute that Concordia was able to put up their first and only shot, as Anthony Tucker had the attempt.
In the 52nd minute the Crusaders received a penalty kick and Leonardo Abonizio capitalized on the Concordia foul, beating Ward who just missed the ball diving to his left. After giving up the lead, the game had a lot of stop and go action due to both teams committing fouls. Concordia failed to muster another quality look outside of a lone corner kick in the 78th minute.
Saturday's game marked the end of the 2019 season for the Concordia men's soccer program. For news on the program as the 2019 season wraps up and the Cardinals prepare for 2020, stay tuned to concordiacardinals.com.
