Cordon helps Cardinal women clinch postseason berth in soccer

| October 20, 2013 9:00 PM

* WOMEN'S SOCCER

SALT LAKE CITY - Emilee Cordon scored two second half goals as the North Idaho Cardinal women's soccer team bounced back from a scoreless first half to beat the Colorado State club team 4-0 on Saturday afternoon, clinching a berth in the District C playoffs on Nov. 1-2 in Cheyenne, Wyo.

"We were struggling to find our rhythm in the first half as we were pretty tired after the game yesterday (a 2-0 win against Salt Lake Community College (club team)," NIC coach Dan Hogan said. "We found our stride in the second half. Cordon did a good job of getting open and (Ellie) Engel and (Kellsi) Parson hit her perfectly. The goals were better than when we've practiced the same type of patterns."

Jaimee Hulst had a goal and assist for NIC (7-6-1), which faces the No. 2 team from Region 9 in its playoff opener.

First half - none. Second half - 1, NIC, Emilee Cordon (Ellie Engel), 50:00. 2, NIC, Cordon (Kellsi Parson), 65:00. 3, NIC, Tiffany Draper (Jaimee Hulst), 69:00. 4, NIC, Hulst (Morgan Kuehl), 71:00.

Shots on goal - NIC 18, CSU 10.

Saves - NIC, Alex Rodriguez 5, Whittni Mundel 4; CSU, Samantha Cross 8.

* VOLLEYBALL

North Idaho d.

Utah State-Eastern

COEUR d'ALENE - Leeta Grap had nine kills and 11 digs and seven aces to lead the 16th-ranked Cardinals past the Golden Eagles 25-20, 25-20, 25-20 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference match at Christianson Gym.

Larissa Claassen had nine kills and nine digs, Russia Robinson 12 digs and Maddie Seidl 33 assists and four digs for NIC (12-8, 5-2 SWAC), which travels to face conference leading Salt Lake Community College (18-6, 6-0) on Friday night.

"It's one of those matches we needed to win," NIC coach Miles Kydd said. "If we can call it an easy match, it's the last of the year. Snow and CSI are top-20 teams (in the NJCAA poll), so we got done what we needed to get done. It's not pretty, but beggars can't be choosers. We were giving up a lot of points with serves. We had 11 aces and six errors and that was a big difference in the match for us. Anyssa (Matheson) gives us an advantage every match. Russia Robinson is the best libero in the conference, she's the best I've ever coached, so that gives us an advantage."

Utah State-Eastern drops to 5-17, 1-6.

In other SWAC play on Saturday, No. 6 Salt Lake beat visiting and No. 18 Snow 25-16, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-8, and No. 8 Southern Idaho swept Colorado Northwestern 25-8, 25-8, 25-12 in Twin Falls.