ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (0-1) fell to Central Oklahoma (1-0) by a score of 4-1 at Sea Foam Stadium in the season opener. McKenzie Buck picked up the lone goal for the Golden Bears in the loss.
 
Concordia showed flashes of skill as they challenged the UCO keepers with seven shots on goal but were unable to slow down a powerful offense from the Bronchos. Central Oklahoma made CSP sophomore keeper Kate Mallory work as they 14 shots, 12 on goal, at her en route to putting four in the back of the net.
 
Starting in place of Emma Gartner, who was unavailable due to illness, Mallory made eight saves, including a few highlight reel saves as she took her first career loss.
 
The duo of Elle Stover and Lexie Bates combined to hold Concordia to one goal on seven shots as Stover picked up the win.
 
Freshman Kentia Kokis made a major splash in her collegiate debut as she netted a hat trick with three second half goals in a span of 24 minutes. She was joined by senior Kimberly Linder in the score sheet as Linder put UCO on the board in the first half.
 
Senior McKenzie Buck came off the bench to provide a spark for the Golden Bears as she netted the team's only goal with a tremendous individual effort and created several other good chances in her time on the field.
 
While Buck, a senior, netted the only goal for CSP, the Golden Bears had five freshmen make their debuts with Katri Gifford and Jade Weller picking up starts. In addition to the five freshmen, Concordia also ran four sophomores out on the field as they featured a young lineup in the opener.
 
The two teams spent much of the first half feeling each other out as both teams' defenses limited the number of good chances until late in the half. Jessica Bianchi nearly put CSP on top in the fifth minute as she fired a shot into the top right corner but Stover hauled it in to keep the game even. Linder finally broke the scoreless tie in the 38^th minute as she picked up a rebound right in front of the net off of a save by Mallory coming off a corner and buried it into the back of the net for her first of the season.
 
That would be it for significant chances until Kokis netted her first goal just over five minutes into the second half as she launched a header off a corner into the bottom left corner of the net past a diving Mallory.
 
The pace really picked up from there as the two teams went back and forth firing shots on net. Buck got one back for the Golden Bears in the 69^th minute as she forced a turnover and slipped behind the defense as she was all alone on the left side of the net with only Stover to beat. Buck fired a low shot that skimmed through the keeper's legs and into the net to make it 2-1. The goal was the senior's sixth of her career.
 
Kokis wasted little time putting the game out of reach as she streaked down the right side of the field less than five minutes later and rolled one past Mallory to extend the lead to 3-1. She struck again a minute and seven seconds later as she took a cross right in front of the right and stuck it in the net off her right foot to bring the game to the final score of 4-1.
 
Neither team was able to get much going the rest of the way as the Bronchos closed out the 4-1 victory.
 
Concordia-St. Paul is back in action on their home field on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. as they host Southwestern Oklahoma State. CSP follows up that match with their NSIC opener on Thursday night against #6 Minnesota State at home.