Birschbach sends Warriors to season-ending win

WLC defeats CUC, 2-0, on Senior Night

Matt Birschbach tallied his third and fourth goals of the season on Tuesday night

Box Score

MILWAUKEE – Matt Birschbach (Waukesha, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) scored both of Wisconsin Lutheran College’s goals to send the Warriors to a 2-0 Senior Night victory over the Concordia University Chicago Cougars on Tuesday in the final game of the 2009 season at Warrior Field.

In what has seemed to be on-going theme throughout most of its 2009 season, WLC held its opponent scoreless after the first half of action. The Warriors finished with six first-half shots, compared to five shots for the visiting Cougars.

Birschbach put Wisconsin Lutheran in front 6:21 into the second period when he tapped the ball into the net from a Cameron Teske (Crete, Ill./Illinois Lutheran) assist. The Warriors preserved their 1-0 lead until 86:35 when Birschbach added an insurance goal assisted by Jake Parnau (Milwaukee, Wis./Greendale) and Matt Eisold (Burlington, Wis./Burlington), who played the field in the second half.

Seven different Warriors recorded at least one shot in the contest. Birschbach tallied a team-high four of the team’s 15 shots in the game. Eisold and Alex Vogel (Jackson, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) combined for the shared-shutout victory in the net.

Alex Lopez and Dan Messina each had two shots to lead Concordia Chicago (4-14-1, 3-8 NAC), which finished with eight in the match.

WLC honored its three seniors, Eisold, Vogel and Ryan Powalisz (Milwaukee, Wis./Heritage Christian) during a halftime ceremony.

Wisconsin Lutheran completes its 2009 season with an overall record of 4-11-3, including a 2-7-2 mark in conference play. A heartbreaking seven of the Warriors’ 11 defeats came by just one goal.