Shutout Streak Finally Ends

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/04/16)—1,049 days and 40 games. That's how long it had been since Concordia had recorded a shutout. The marathon streak ended on Sunday as the Cobbers blanked Buena Vista 1-0 in the final game of the St. Thomas Invite.

Junior Jacob Schmidt scored in the eighth minute of play and then Concordia's commitment to defense took over as they held the Beavers off the board and allowed only five shots on goal.

In an interesting turn of history, Concordia's last shutout also came against Buena Vista on Oct. 21, 2013. It had been a span of 40 games without holding a team scoreless.

"We have been stressing defense and taking pride in stopping the opposing team's attack all preseason," commented head coach Ben Schneweis. "It's nice to see the players get rewarded for all their hard work."

Junior Alan Scheuermann was the recipient of Concordia's defensive effort.  The Cobbers had two starting defensive backs out with an injury and a third went down in the first half. All told CC used seven different players on the back line to come up with the streak-ending shutout. One of Scheuermann's biggest saves came in the dying seconds as he deflected a point-blank Beaver shot over the crossbar.

The lone goal of the weekend for Concordia came off a quick restart on a foul call. Senior captain Sage Thornbrugh caught the BVU off guard when he quickly grabbed the ball after a foul call, placed it on the ground and then delivered a through ball to Schmidt. Schmidt ran on to the pass and pounded it home to give CC a 1-0 lead at the 7:11 mark.

For Schmidt, who led the team in scoring last year, it was his seventh career goal. The assist was Thornbrugh's 15th career helper.

The final game statistics were all even. Both teams had 12 total shots and five shots on goal and both squads collected five corners in the game.

Freshman Sam Gess had a team-high three total shots and two shots on net. Matthew Fulks and Spencer Lancaster had two shots each.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia returns to Moorhead to host its home opener on Friday, Sept. 9. CC will square off against Wis.-Superior at 1 p.m. and then face Simpson (Iowa) on Sunday, Sept. 11 at noon.