Box Score IRVINE, Calif. -- Kyle Hollomon and Shanon Murphy scored goals less than 40 seconds apart midway through the second half to lift the NAIA's No. 19-ranked Concordia University to a 3-1 upset of No. 3 Azusa Pacific, in a rematch of last year's NAIA championship game.
The victory is stunning on several fronts. Not only did Concordia become the first GSAC school to score this season on the defending national champion Cougars, but CUI snaps Azusa Pacific's record-setting 21-game conference unbeaten streak, handing the Cougars their first GSAC loss since a 1-0 setback at Hope International, Oct. 11, 2006.
Azusa Pacific appeared to be headed toward its fifth-straight win over the Eagles when freshman Brett Taylor tallied his second collegiate goal off an Alex Earl pass to give the Cougars a quick 1-0 advantage less than 15 minutes into the contest.
However, Concordia, which lost 4-0 and 2-0 (championship game) to Azusa Pacific last year, did not wilt and kept grinding away on offense until All-American Jeff Clark headed CUI's only corner kick of the contest into the back of the net to end Azusa Pacific's 6-game shutout streak and knot the game at 1-1 at halftime. Clark's counter, his first vs. Azusa Pacific since his 2005 freshman season when scored the game's only goal in the CUI's last victory over the Cougars, also ended Cougar keeper James Crawford's scoreless minutes streak at an even 600.
Earlier in the contest, just after Taylor's score, Crawford made a fabulous 1-handed save of an Eagle shot that seemed to indicate lady luck would once again fail Concordia.
Clark's goal, though, turned the momentum and in the 76th minute Holloman scored his seventh goal of the season, using a perfectly placed lead pass from Adrian Martinez to beat Crawford and give the Eagles a surprising 2-1 advantage. The Cougars were obviously still unsettled by the turn of events when 33 seconds later Murphy fired a shot off the far post and into the net for his first collegiate goal.
Concordia out shot the Cougars, 12-10, and though Azusa Pacific registered 5 corner kicks to Concordia's 1, the Cougars couldn't convert any of them, including 4 in the second half.
With the victory, Concordia improves to 9-5-1 overall and takes over sole possession of first place in the GSAC with a 6-1 mark. Azusa Pacific falls to 8-3-3 overall, 5-1-1 in the GSAC. The Cougars will attempt to rebound when they host Point Loma Nazarene University, Saturday (Oct. 25) in 1 p.m. GSAC game.
