(Ann Arbor, MI) Concordia Cardinals men's soccer team hosted Kalamazoo College on Tuesday September 19th. The Hornets won the only previous meeting in 2022 and were able to get the win on Tuesday, beating the Cardinals by a score of 4-1.
The Game
The game started off slowly as both teams were trying to get adjusted to the game and get a feel for what the opposing team wanted to do. There wasn't too much movement from either team, with the action taking place primarily in the midfield to start. Then Kalamazoo had the first two shots on goal, one by Henry Plumstead and the other by Aidan Gillig which was saved by Concordia's goalkeeper Kyri Wixom. After that, Concordia was able to get two shots of their own from Carter Kerbawy and Angel Elizondo to try and score the first points of the game, but neither found the back of the net. Besides those two shots and a third one from Lucas Anderson's saved penalty kick, it was all Kalamazoo in the first half. The first goal came from Kalamazoo in the 17th minute after Henry Plumstead made a nice move to cut it inside to create a one on one opportunity with Concordia's goalkeeper and snuck it right past Wixom for the goal to make it 1-0. Then It was a little quiet on action with both teams unable to really get anything going, however both teams did have some chances on each other's sides but only Kalamazoo was able to get two more shots on goal. In the 34th minute Kalamazoo found its footing again and got two more shots on goal. The first one was a great save by Wixom but Jaden Buist scored off of the rebound to make it 2-0. Then just right before halftime Kalamazoo had a corner kick and put it right on the money where Jordon Larco was able to head it right over Wixom for the third goal for Kalamazoo to give them a 3-0 lead at the end of the first half.
In the beginning of the second half both teams made some lineup changes but most notable was Concordia switching goalies and turning to Dario Cela for his first ever game action. In the 63rd minute, Concordia finally got on the board after another penalty shot that was tipped in by Gavin Houtkooper, Kalamazoo's goalkeeper. The goal was scored by Bryce Schaner from Concordia to make it 3-1. That goal gave Concordia a little bit of life since all game they had great chances and opportunities to score and just couldn't finish until that penalty kick. However, that life was quickly stripped from Concordia after Kalamazoo's Aidan Gillig scored a goal in the 72nd minute on a penalty shot which put the game away and put Kalamazoo up 4-1.
Stats
Concordia had eight total shots, ten fouls, one corner kick, six total saves and three yellow cards that were given to Dario Cela, Brody Smith, and Tim Relou. The shots came from Lucas Anderson, Caleb Comstock, Carter Kerbawy, Robert Klinger, and Angel Elizondo, who all had one shot while Bryce Schaner had three. Out of those shots only four of them were shots on the goal and they were by Anderson, Comstock, and Schaner. Concordia had two goalies in Kyri Wixom with three saves and Dario Cela with three as well.
Kalamazoo had 22 total shots, 12 fouls, two corner kicks, three total saves and zero yellow cards. Out of those shots only 10 of them were on shots on goal. Both Michele Alia and Jake Lynett were able to add one assist as well. Just like Concordia, Kalamazoo had two goalies in but only one of them put up stats and that was Gavin Houtkooper. He saw four shots on goal, with one goal allowed and three saves.
Upcoming Schedule
Concordia will look to get back in the win column when they travel to Aquinas on Saturday, September 23rd at 3:00 p.m. which will be the start of WHAC play.
