Box Score	1st Half	2nd Half	OT 1	OT 2	Final
Concordia	1	0	0	1	2
Saint Benedict	1	0	0	0	1

St. Joseph, Minn. - The Saint Benedict soccer team played a thrilling match today (Oct. 27) against Concordia-Moorhead, who entered ranked No. 19 in the country, and first in the MIAC. Tied 1-1 at after the first 90 minutes, the game needed two overtimes to reach a decision before the Cobbers were able to add another goal to end the game, giving a 2-1 loss to the Blazers.

With a lot to play for, the Blazers came racing out of the gates, ready to lay it all on the line to get the victory. Just eight minutes into the first half, junior forward Colleen Bouchard received the ball from first-year forward Gracie Vaughan inside the box. After dribbling through several Cobber defenders, Bouchard tapped the ball past the keeper to give her team a 1-0 lead. The goal was Bouchard's seventh of the year, tying her career-high from a year ago and giving her a new career-high of 23 points.

Midway through the first half, the Cobbers answered with a goal of their own. Sophomore midfielder Emma Ekdahl secured a loose ball at the top of the box and promptly fired a high shot past Blazer keeper Megan Favorite to equalize the score at one goal apiece.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Blazers continued to dial up the pressure, but were not able to add another goal despite outshooting the Cobbers 8-to-5. The Blazer defense was also able to keep the potent Cobber offense out of the danger zone for the rest of the second half, sending the high-intensity match into overtime.

The defenses dominated the first overtime, with neither team opening up any real scoring opportunities.

The Blazer offense poured it on the Cobbers to begin the second overtime. In a heart-stopping series of events, Vaughan dribbled to the left side of the goal near the goal-line and sent it over Bouchard near the top of the six-yard box. Bouchard struck the ball towards the net for what appeared to be the game-winning goal, but Cobber keeper Ali Nelson made a backwards, arms- extended save that would have been worthy of ESPN's top plays.

Just minutes later at the other end of the field the Cobbers caught the break they were looking for. Junior forward Gina Weiss, reigning MIAC player of the week, entered the ball into the box to sophomore teammate Elizabeth Robinson. Robinson booted the golden goal past Favorite, ending the game 2-1 after 104 minutes of action.

The loss however, came with some good news. Despite the setback the Blazers will still be competing in the MIAC playoffs. With Bethel losing to St. Thomas 1-0 earlier today, the Blazers finish tied for fourth in the standings with Macalester. The Blazers advance on the tiebreaker since they beat the Scots 1-0 in earlier this year. Assuming Augsburg defeats Saint Mary's, the Blazers will be the fourth seed and will travel to Concordia for another shot at toppling the Cobbers on Halloween night. Official seeds and schedules will be released later tonight.

Although they lost, the double overtime near-victory should also give the Blazers some good things to think about heading into their playoff rematch of today's game in Moorhead. They ran stride-for-stride for two halves and two overtimes against a star-studded Concordia-Moorhead team that is ranked 19th in the country. They also outshot the Cobbers 25-15 and could very easily have won the game had a couple more plays gone their way.

Special credit goes to senior defender Missy Schelendich who had the tall order of shadowing last year's Co-MIAC player of the year, Sarah Rounds on the right side of the defense. Rounds was shutout of all scoring and wasn't able to muster up any real scoring chances, effectively making her a non-factor in the game. If the Blazers are going to upset the Cobbers in the first-round of the MIAC tournament Schelendich will need to have a repeat of today's performance The rest of the Blazer defense deserves a lot of credit as well. Freshman defenders Ellie Mullen and Leah Powlison, among others, made several game-saving plays down the stretch that helped keep the MIAC's best offense at bay.