MITCHELL, S.D. – After three straight contests ending with a draw, Concordia Men’s Soccer grabbed an early lead against Dakota Wesleyan and left no doubt in the 3-0 road win on Saturday (Oct. 5). The Bulldogs dominated the first half with two goals and an 11-6 shot advantage over the Tigers. Defender Ryan Brown scored the first goal of his career in his senior season.
CUNE has a 3-2-7 overall record and remains unbeaten in conference play with a 2-0-3 record.
Head Coach Jason Wiedes said, “We had an overall good team performance. In the attack, we were really sharp and were able to play really simple. We have been preaching that. We found good moments to make runs and put the ball in behind them. We created threatening situations. We played well in the first half minus a few details and Dakota Wesleyan was up to the challenge. They came out and pressured us early in the second half, but we settled in. It took a while to get the third goal, but it was important to put the game to bed.”
The Bulldogs doused the home team with six shots in the first 23 minutes and finally found pay dirt in the 24th. After getting fouled, Oliver Benson took on a Tiger defender, flying past him with one move. The Bennington, Neb., native found a lane and blasted the eventual game winner in the back of the net. Less than four minutes later, Hugo Garrote gave a slick feed to Martin Herrera and he finished with his fifth score of the season.
Fast forward to the 84th minute, D’Andre Williams playing keep away from a pack of Tigers and booted a cross past five defenders for a header by senior Ryan Brown. Dakota Wesleyan keeper Ryan Flannery made the diving save but Brown followed tagging his first collegiate score to seal the win.
The Bulldog offense was potent with seven different players firing 13 total shots via Jarrod Henson (four), Herrera (three), Youseff Heggy (two), Benson, Brown, Ferdi Hagen and Williams.
Concordia squeezed the Tigers for only four shots on goal making it tough on the opposing team with big time blocks. Goalkeeper Nolan Fuelberth collected his third clean sheet of the season and three saves in the game. Coach Weides boasted about Fuelberth and many others postgame.
“Guys came through with big blocks in important moments. Nolan made a really important save when it was 2-0 and another when it was 1-0. I really feel like everybody on our team came to play.”
DWU (4-5-2, 1-3 GPAC) had 10 shots from eight different players but had only one corner the entire 90 minutes. Flannery had three saves but allowed three goals. The Tigers will look to respond against Waldorf on Wednesday.
Concordia (3-2-7, 2-0-3 GPAC) will have a week until it hosts Morningside (4-5-1, 2-1-1 GPAC) on senior day. The Bulldogs and Mustangs tied (0-0) in Seward last season.