ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University soccer team is at home Friday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. for the final regular season game of the season. The Golden Bears will be taking on the third ranked team in the NSIC, the St. Cloud State Huskies with a 10-4-4 overall record, 6-6-0 NSIC. The Golden Bears are currently in seventh place in the conference standings with an overall record of 8-8-3 and a conference mark of 5-5-2. The Golden Bears need a victory to assure a spot in post-season play. Come out and support your Golden Bears!! COMPLETE RELEASE
It has been a historic season for the Golden Bears with many records being challenged or broken.
Freshman, Arielle Stimson has already made her mark in the record books tying CU's single season goals record with 10. A goal in Friday's game would put her in first place. She also is in third for the best single season scoring effort with 24 points, just three points from the all-time high.
Currently, Kate Campione is ranked 83rd in the nation for assists this season. Campione is tied for fifth in assists in the NSIC.
Senior Katie Johnson had a career high seven goals this year prior to a season ending injury. Johnson was also named to the 2009 Academic All-District third team. Coach Joe Alianiello said this about Katie, “Katie Johnson had a great senior year up until her injury. She helped sparked our offensive efforts early in the season and kept going.”.
The Golden Bears have also set a new all-time team record with 36 goals on the season. Tackling the tough job of protecting the net in her freshman season is Kaitlin Budd. Budd has put in countless hours of work and preparation for the postseason, putting up a 1.47 goals against average so far, which is the fourth best single season mark at CU. She has made 81 saves and has put up three shutouts on the year.
Head coach Joe Alianiello has a chance to give the program its second-ever winning season and to set a new record for NSIC wins in a season (6) in an increasingly talent-laden conference.
When asked what areas he saw the most improvement in Coach Alianiello had this to say, “I thought we were a lot more dangerous this season and scored more goals than any other team in Concordia Women's Soccer History. This helped give the team a lot of confidence when we got down or were tied that we had the ability to come back and win a game still”. He went on to say the team needed to work on allowing easy goals for next season.
Be sure to come out and cheer on your Golden Bears in their final home game of the season.
