Lakeland College

Muskies Drop Third Consecutive NAC Game

Athletics - posted on 10/10/2006

The Lakeland men's soccer team was defeated, 3-1, by Northern Athletics Conference opponent Concordia University Chicago on Tuesday, Oct. 10, in River Forest, Ill.

Although the Muskies led 1-0 going into halftime on a goal in the 14th minute by freshman attacker Ryan Malo, with the assist credited to both junior forward Addison Lee and sophomore forward Ted Cormier, the squad was unable to hold the lead in the second half.

"I told the guys we needed to play simple in the second half, but we didn't have the intensity level and focus we needed to close out the game," said head coach Dave Madsen. "I thought we were the better team, we just didn't show it today."

As a result, Concordia's junior forward Fernando Cervantes went on a scoring tear in the second half, knocking in all three goals for the Cougars to seal the win and record a hat trick.

"We gave that kid too much space to work with," Madsen said of Cervantes. "We allowed them to get back into the game by losing the ball in spots that led to scoring opportunities for them. They were able to make a break-through in the second half."

Not only was Lakeland's defensive line hammered with 32 shot attempts for the game, 14 of which were on goal, but the Muskies were unable to catch any breaks on offense to even up the game.

"I told the guys we needed to create quality shots on frame and make the goalie make the save," Madsen said. "We did create some clear-cut chances to score in the second half that could have tied up the game. A few were chances where I was sure we were going to score, so it's frustrating that we were unable to."

Despite the loss, Madsen commends the effort of junior first-year goalkeeper Ryan Condon for his efforts between the posts. Condon tallied 11 saves against Concordia, giving him 103 total saves for the season, good for third in saves in the NAC rankings.

"Ryan has done a tremendous job this year, particularly in terms of the types of saves he has been able to get. He has far exceeded my expectations. At the same time it's a bit frustrating because I wish our guys would rally around him a little more and provide him with more support back there."

Tuesday's loss puts the Muskies in a difficult position in terms of the conference race, as they currently sit in seventh place with a 2-4 NAC record and are 2-10 overall.

"I told the guys before the game that it was a must-win game," Madsen said. "But we didn't finish the game off, so that's going to make it tough on us going into the next couple of games."

The team will now face the current first and third place teams in conference on the road, with Aurora University on Wednesday, Oct. 18, and Dominican University, who remains undefeated in NAC play thus far, on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Game time vs. Aurora is set for 3:30 p.m. in Aurora, Ill.

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