CROOKSTON, Minn. - The Concordia- St. Paul soccer team (10-3-3, 8-3-1 NSIC) keeps their winning streak alive with a 5-0 win over the Golden Eagles of Minnesota Crookston (1-13-2, 1-11-1 NSIC) on a windy Friday afternoon at the Minnesota Crookston Soccer Field.
Today's game marks the fifth straight win in a row for the Golden Bears with only two more regular season games left to play.
Following the win, head coach Steve Bellis stated, "After a long road trip it was good to see us take control of the game early on and finish some great chances."
Bellis added, "Today was a strong group performance and we showed strength in our squad overall."
Sophia Haase highlighted the day for the Navy and Gold, scoring her first collegiate hat-trick. This adds to her four goals on the season to become the team leader in goals with seven. She also tallied a season-high six shots with five of them coming on goal.
CSP dominated the game in all phases and categories, tallying 17 shots along with 9-1 corner kick advantage.
In the first half, Concordia got the scoring started and never let up. Belle Abruzzo scored her first goal of the season at the 34th minute with an assist by Clare Snapko. Just three minutes later Sophia Haase scored her first of three goals in the game off a pass from Sydney Manthana and Brittany Bordson.
The Golden Bears held a 8-0 shot advantage in the first half, locking down the entire Golden Eagle offense.
Haase was a force to be reckoned with in the second half. She scored her second goal at the 54th minute with an assist by Amaya O'Hearn. This marks O'Hearn's team-leading ninth assist of the season.
Four minutes later Haase scored her first collegiate hat-trick to etch herself in the CSP soccer history books as just the eighth player to do so. She was assisted on the goal by Morgan Bilczewski, marking her first collegiate assist.
The Golden Bear offense was not slowing down, at the 67th minute Jada Cannady scored her first goal of the season from a pass by Hope Schensema who recorded her first collegiate assist.
UMC had no answers for the high-powered CSP team and was unable to find the goal and tallied just three shots total.
Sydney Potter got her eleventh start of the season in the net, making two saves. Today's game marks her fourth shutout in a row.
On the defensive side of the pitch, Snapko, Abruzzo and Haley Rudebusch led the team in minutes played while holding the Golden Eagles to just two shots on goal.
Along with Haase's six shots, Cannady and Sophia King each had two shots.
The Golden Bears will look to keep their winning streak alive and wrap-up NSIC regular season games on the road Sunday playing the Beavers of Bemidji State at Chet Anderson Stadium in Bemidji, Minn. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m.
