SEWARD, Neb. – For the first time this season, the Concordia University men’s soccer team is aiming to respond to a loss. Fortunately, tenth-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad will be back at Bulldog Stadium where it is a perfect 5-0 this season. The guests this week will be Doane on Wednesday and Morningside on Saturday.
This week’s schedule
Wednesday, Oct. 11 vs. Doane (2-11, 1-4 GPAC), 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 14 vs. Morningside (6-2-3, 2-1 GPAC), 8 p.m.
A 2-1 double overtime defeat versus Northwestern on Oct. 7 put a stop to the longest unbeaten run in program history. Last week the Bulldogs picked up votes in the national poll on the strength of their impressive start. Concordia went 10-0-1 before suffering defeat. The Bulldogs were ranked 40th in the first Modified Ratings Percentage Index released by the NAIA on Sept. 27. After checking in at No. 2 in last week’s official GPAC ratings, Concordia slid back to fourth with Monday’s (Oct. 9) new poll.
Saturday will be senior night at Bulldog Stadium. Eight seniors will be honored: Luke Batters, Florian Caraballo, Toby Down, Aries Fung, Alex Goodwin, Marcelo Hernandez, Micah Lehenbauer and Lewis Rathbone. Over the past four seasons, the four-year seniors have helped the program to a combined record of 42-21-10 with a conference tournament title and national tournament appearance in 2015. Down and Lehenbauer have been fixtures each season. Lehenbauer has collected 23 goals and seven assists over 68 career games.
Doane’s 2-11 record is a bit misleading when considering that five losses have been decided by just a single goal. The Tigers ended a 10-game losing streak with a 2-0 home victory over Dordt last week. So far this season, Doane has been outscored by a combined total of 32-14. Daniel Maganda has found the back of the net five times.
Morningside finally won a game without drama last week when it picked up a 4-0 home victory over Jamestown. Its previous nine contests either ended in draws or came down to margins of a single goal. The Mustangs have competed admirably with some of the strongest teams on their schedule. They earned a 1-1 tie with then No. 3 Grand View University (Iowa) and dropped a 2-1 overtime decision at Midland, a 2016 national qualifier. The top offensive threat for Morningside is Joao Soares (seven goals, six assists).
Both of this week’s games will be featured live on the Concordia Sports Network. Just three regular-season matches will remain on the schedule after this week concludes. Next week the Bulldogs will be at Midland (Oct. 18) and at Dordt (Oct. 21).