Gast Goes Roberto Carlos To Give Cobbers A Tie In Season Opener

MOORHEAD, Minn. (8/30/25)---Concordia erased a pair of 1-goal deficits against St. John's and came away with a 2-2 tie in the season opener.

The Cobbers fell behind 1-0 in the first half and 2-1 in the second half but each time had an answer and ran their unbeaten streak in season openers to three games.

Ricco Rolle and Parker Gast collected the goals for Concordia, while Jack Solheid held the Johnnies off the board for the final 26 minutes of play to earn the tie in his first collegiate start.    

St. John's struck first when they were able to take advantage of a dead ball from the right wing. After the ball was cleared to the left side of the field, the Johnnies were able to cross the ball back into the penalty area. A CC defender tried to head the ball out of danger but it went straight to Carter Hermanson who slotted home the sitter at the 15:27 mark.

Concordia was slowly able to step up its offensive attack and tied the game in the 41st minute when Rolle took advantage of a miscue by the SJU keeper. Rolle blocked a potential clearing attempt off the foot of the goalie, had the ball ricochet behind the two player and was able to run past the goalie and slide the ball into the net.

The goal at 40:22 was Rolle's third of his career.

St. John's took its second lead of the game at 63:41 on a through ball from their own half of play. An SJU midfielder played the ball behind the CC defense and Ronan O'Connor got to the pass before Solheid, played the ball around the CC netminder and slotted home the easy goal.

Concordia had to wait 9:26 before knotting the score for the final time.

Rolle set up the equalizer when he stripped the last Johnnie defender of the ball 35 yards from the SJU goal and was tripped in the ensuing play. The St. John's defender was issued a yellow card, and the Cobbers were given a free kick from the spot of the fall.

Gast proceeded to channel his inner Roberto Carlos and hammer the free kick around the right side of the goal and just inside the right post.

It was Gast's first collegiate goal and brought the game level with 16:53 to play.

Neither team attempted a shot in the final 15 minutes of play and the Cobbers were able to complete the tie by successfully defending several corners in the final 10 minutes.

Both teams had 10 total shots with the Cobbers holding a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal.

Concordia will finish off the opening weekend of the season when they host Neb. Wesleyan on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m.

SEASON-OPENING SUCCESS        
Concordia is now 2-0-1 in its last three season openers and 4-1-1 in the last six.

AUGUST NUMBERS
The Cobbers have played 10 games in August since the 2003 season and are 5-4-1 in those games.