OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer held off Mid-America Christian University (Okla.) in the first portion of the contest on Saturday (Aug. 22). The Evangels capitalized on a couple of mistakes that included a red card and an own goal starting an avalanche in a 5-0 loss for the Bulldogs.
Head Coach Bernie Ochoa starts his tenure 0-2 in Oklahoma against two Sooner Athletic Conference teams.
“Once we got the red card it was kind of difficult,” said. “We were able to hold off at first but they are a quality side. In the second half, they scored early. It was a tough situation with guys with yellow cards, injuries and a little bit of everything.”
With a red card in the 24th minute, the Bulldogs remained confident to stay in a competitive match but a cross by MACU forced an own goal by the visiting side (31’). With already two self-inflicted wounds, yellow cards piled up on the Concordia defense and Evangels’ Filliph Kamfjord took advantage to create space with a goal just after the locker rooms visit.
MACU was on the ball consistently and outshot the Bulldogs 14-2 in the second frame. The extra attempts started the runaway sprint in the contest as the red and white tacked on three more in the 65th, 71st, and 85th minute.
Evangel’s Vito Callaci and Ellis Dunn were out front shooting the majority with five and three, respectively. Ten different players from the MACU side fired at the goal of their opposition. Kai Olbrich (two) and Hugo Garrote kicked the attempts for the Bulldog blue.
Many athletes saw their first action this week in a Bulldog uniform including: Kade Olbrich, Danilo Nikolic, William Preston, Felipe Silva Mendes, Lucas Montino, Sebastian Montino, Joao Pedro Moreira, Victor Tavares, Elijah Fulton and Kenix Leyva.
Carter Wiebusch garnered his first career start grabbing two saves and Jason Payne came in relief for two saves at goalkeeper.
Mid-America Christian (2-0) had four separate players score: Callaci, Kamfjord, Gabriel Avellan and Dunn. The Evangels took advantages in shots (18-3), shots on goal (9-1) and assists (3-0). Goalkeeper Julian Huertas had one save in the clean sheet.
Concordia (0-2) will host its only non-conference home match on Wednesday (Sept. 2) versus Bellevue (1-0). The Bulldogs will celebrate senior day against the Bruins as the contest is set for 8 p.m. CT inside Bulldog Stadium.