Defense may win championships as they say, but you still have to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Concord University women’s soccer team gets that done on both ends of the pitch.
Saturday in the Round-of-32 of the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Atlantic Region Tournament, the Mountain Lions faced another tough defensive team in Bloomsburg University at Paul Cline Stadium.
The match was all Concord from start to finish.
Keeping a clean sheet, the Mountain Lions blitzed the Huskies 4-0 to advance to the Sweet 16 against the winner of Kutztown University and West Chester University.
After Concord recorded its first regional win in program history Thursday night, head coach Luke Duffy hoped his team would want more than just that initial historic win.
“It is a new experience for us right now, but we are hungry. We don’t want to settle, we want to keep grinding out wins,” Duffy said. “The next one obviously is a big one. There is a trophy on the line and we want to get more silverware and not settle for what we have.”
From the opening kick, Concord was the aggressor forcing plenty of action in front of the net with a barrage of crosses.
Just 13 minutes in, junior Rachel Bell found the mark for the Mountain Lions when a cross was punched out giving her an excellent look up top at the corner of the box.
“I feel like when you take those shots, you just kinda feel it. I didn’t have much time to think and I just hit it and I was obviously quite surprised,” Bell said. “We do that a lot in practice from the corners of the box and chipping it over.”
Bell’s blast curled just under the crossbar at the far post for a 1-0 lead.
Concord’s leading scorer, Yasmin Mosby, took over from there to basically put the match out of reach. The Mountain East Conference Player of the Year scored two goals less than eight minutes apart, with the first coming in the 32nd minute to give her team a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Mosby created havoc for the Huskies defense all afternoon.
“I just kinda react on instincts really. We have been (scoring like that) all season and I was glad it showed up today. Hopefully we can continue,” Mosby said.
Entering the match, Bloomsburg had only surrendered two goals once during its run to the Round of 32.
“I think teams that are defensive minded are going to sit a little bit deeper. We have the experience up top in the midfield to find gaps. I think we did that today,” Duffy said. “Credit to Bloomsburg, they are obviously a great team and don’t conceded many goals. I don’t know if they have come up against a team like us that is so good in front of the goal.”
Leah Foster assisted on the first goal from Mosby before she found the back of the net in the 54th minute for the final margin.
Mosby and Foster have been a lethal combination for the Mountain Lions all season. Mosby has recorded 24 goals and Foster has 13. Foster is also second on the team with 12 assists, behind former Oak Hill standout, Courtney Smith who has 16.
“I have been here five years and Leah has been here four. We have had a great relationship all four years,” Mosby said.
Concord recorded 19 shots in the match with 13 of those attempts being on frame. In comparison, Bloomsburg had seven shots, but only one was between the posts.
While he was pleased with the offensive output, Duffy was equally as pleased with the clean sheet earned by his team.
“We obviously defend from the front. We start attacks from the back. Our offense knows equally that it is important that we keep a clean sheet, so credit to everyone for getting that as well,” Duffy said.
Mosby was one of nine starters that led Concord into the Atlantic Region Tournament in 2019 before dropping its match to West Chester.
“This is very special for me because I stayed for my fifth year. I am very happy I stayed,” Mosby said, smiling.
Kutztown and West Chester play Sunday at 2 p.m. The site for Concord’s next match will be determined after Sunday’s matches.
