SEWARD, Neb. – Senior day was celebrated on Saturday (Oct. 21), as Concordia hosted Waldorf for their final regular season home match at Bulldog Stadium. After taking a little while to get settled, the Dawgs exploded on offense for a 6-0 shutout. Iker Casanova, Braden Spath, Michael Lindberg and Ryan Wokutch were the four seniors honored, with Spath being the only senior to find the back of the net against the Warriors. The home team dominated with a 21-3 shot advantage over the visitors.
Concordia men’s soccer team remains undefeated with only one game left in the regular season, pushing their record to 12-0-4 overall and 6-0-4 in the GPAC. Senior defenseman Michael Lindberg spoke on the shutout versus Waldorf.
“For the most part, we were trying to keep the communication high and just trying to high press, so they didn’t have many attacks. We tried to pinch them wide and keep them out of our box, then counterattack them and hoped to score more goals. It was nice to come out well on senior day and get our strikers some easy goals.”
The Bulldogs came out a little stale on offense in the first 30 minutes of play but didn’t give up an early goal, which has been an Achilles heel for them in the opening minutes. In the 33rd minute, Youssef Heggy broke through first, rocketing the ball off his foot and into the back of the net for his first collegiate goal.
Spath, a senior out of Kearney, Neb., found himself on the back end of a rebounded block by the Warriors’ keeper. The seemingly taller than six foot one defender, jumped over the Waldorf defense for a smashing header for his second goal of the season, putting the Dawgs up 2-0.
Coming out of the break, the fifth year senior Victor Meneses scored on another rebound, totaling his fifth score in 2023. Meneses doubled his career goals this season, bringing his total to 10 as a Bulldog.
Concordia drew a foul inside the box in the 73rd minute, looking to pile goals on late in the half. Michael Owens took the penalty chance, scoring with ease, he ran to his teammates on the sideline and tried to chest bump his team as he fell down in excitement. As a result, Owens collected his first collegiate goal and would not be denied late for a second score in the match. With a stunning pass by Dre Williams to make it easy, MO tapped in another goal.
Owens talked about his experience scoring two goals. “It’s an amazing feeling. I’m really happy to help the team accomplish the victory. We dominated the whole game. We are just like a family, you know. We fight for each other.”
Williams would score a goal himself on a sneaky cross by Ryan Brown, giving Brown the first point in his collegiate career.
Concordia (12-0-4, 6-0-4 GPAC) takes a short trip to Crete, Neb. for their final regular season match versus Doane (3-5-7, 1-3-5 GPAC) on Wednesday (Oct. 25). First kick is set for 5 p.m. CT at Al Papik Field. The Bulldogs defeated Doane (2-1) in Seward, Neb. in 2022.