saint paul, minn. - the steve bellis era kicked off with a tough loss on saturday afternoon as he and his golden bears fell 4-3 to st. Francis.
brittany kapala had two goals for cu and junior transfer
amanda olsen had a goal and assist. Concordia tied up the match in the 81st minute but gave up a late goal as a result escaped them on opening day.
box score
the golden bears looked poised to control the match early as they had two shots on goal and three corners in the opening fifteen minutes. Olsen hit the post in the 8th minute denying cu a goal to break the pace of play. Concordia had five shots before st. Francis opened the scoring in the 28th minute. St. Francis controlled the match for the next several minutes tallying a second goal in the 34th minute. Cu keeper
megan kurtz deflected a pass but it did not go far as it got put back and beat kurtz.
concordia got a break just before half as olsen drew a foul and the box and converted on a penalty in the 42nd minute. Cu went in to the half down just one after giving up their two first half goals. At the end of one cu held a 9-5 advantage in shots. They also also held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.
as the second half got under way st. Francis scored a soft goal on a ball that was meant to be crossed snuck past kurtz just three minutes into the half. Kapala netted her first goal of the match in the 59th minute drawing cu within one. Kapala received a pass from olsen and corralled it eight yards out before putting in the net right of the keeper.
it was quiet for the next twenty minutes of play as both teams settled down for awhile. A header by
kim sauberlich off a corner went just high as cu couldn't find the tying goal. With under 10 minutes to play a result for concordia seemed like a long shot but a beautiful cross by
arielle stimson and a nice header by kapala tied the match in the 81st minutes. The lead did not last long however as usf's erin voss scored by bending a corner over kurtz and off the post for a goal. It was the second tough goal given up by cu in the second half. The golden bears could not find the net anymore as they fell 4-3.
cu out shot usf 14-9 in the match but came up short. Kurtz finished the day with four saves. Concordia will be back in action monday as the host regis university at sea foam stadium at 11 a.m.
