9-10-08: STERLING 2 - CUNE 1

Sterling's summary of the victory over Concordia:

Warriors Top Bulldogs 2-1

09/11/2008 - The Sterling Men's soccer team moved to 3-0 on the season after beating Concordia University (NE) 2-1 on the road.

The first half of play was uneventful, with both teams having some opportunities to score, yet coming up empty resulting in a 0-0 tie after the first 45 minutes. The second half would prove to be a different story. In the 50th minute, Bulldog midfielder, Richard Rattray received a red card, forcing Concordia to play a man down. The Warriors wasted no time in capitalizing. One minute later (51st) Shawn Sajjadi found the head of midfielder, Justin Martens for the first goal of the game.

In the 54th minute, Mladen Bjelica was able to get deep and served a wicked ball into the middle that senior Jorge Bueso was able to one-touch into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. It appeared that the Warriors were in solid control of the match and would cruise to an easy win, but all of that changed in the 71st minute. Sterling junior, Aaron Baker, was called for a foul in the Warrior penalty box resulting in a penalty kick for Concordia and an ejection of Baker. After converting the PK, Concordia was within one goal of the Warriors; however, the Sterling men proved to be too much as they were able to hold on for the victory.

Sterling coach Dave Underwood commented, "This was one of those games where you are glad to get away with a win. We played poorly in the first half, but I thought we responded well early in the second half and we felt in firm control of the match with a 2-0 lead. Then, in the blink of an eye everything changed. A couple of bad decisions within a few seconds made it a game again, but we were fortunately able to come away with a win on the road. It's nice to be able to learn from mistakes and still win."

The Warriors will take their 3-0 record on the road to Oklahoma City where they will face Mid-America Christian University on Saturday.