MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin men's soccer team closed the regular season against the Muskies of Lakeland on Wednesday afternoon. The Falcons claimed a 2-1 victory to finish the regular season at 5-9-3 and 5-6-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.
The Muskies had the wind to their backs in the first half.
The first shots of the match came from Harris Burgos in the third minute.
The Falcons scored first in the seventh minute on a header from senior Carlos Valdivia (Fond du Lac, Wis.) that crossed the goal line off assists from junior Carson Kelly (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and senior Sam Butterfield (St. Louis, Mo.).
The Falcons had a two-on-zero breakaway in the 12th minute but the Lakeland goalkeeper covered up the ball.
The Birds threatened again in the 16th and 17th minutes with shots from senior Alishan Sharipov (Krasnodar, Russia) and sophomore Vladimir Campos (Milwaukee, Wis.).
The Muskies tied the match with seven seconds left in the first half on a scrum in front of the net.
Junior Jeremy Munoz (Milwaukee, Wis.) recorded two saves in the first half.
Lakeland held an 8-5 advantage in shots in the first half.
Carlos Valdivia had a beautiful header that just missed high of the net.
Lakeland nearly took the lead with a breakaway opportunity, but Jeremy Munoz came up with a huge save and a secondary shot missed high.
Freshman Elias Ramon (Huntley, Ill.) scored in the 52nd minute Off a rebound off a shot from freshman Harris Burgos (Milwaukee, Wis.).
The Muskies had another breakaway opportunity in the 74th minute that was covered up by Munoz.
In the 77th minute, Lakeland got past the CUW defense and keeper and rang the ball off the post.
Lakeland threatened late but could not tie the match.
The Falcons finish NACC play unbeaten in their final four matches at 3-0-1.
The late-season surge helped the Falcons qualify for the NACC Tournament for the 18th time in 19 seasons.
The Falcons qualified for the tournament with Benedictine's loss tonight against Aurora.
Concordia Wisconsin qualified for the NACC Tournament as the seventh seed and will play at Dominican in the NACC Tournament Quarterfinals on Sunday.
The last CUW-Dominican matchup occurred less than a week ago, on October 26th, and saw the two teams play to a 1-1 draw.
