SEWARD, Neb. – After 110 minutes of play, the second-seeded Bulldogs survived and advanced to the conference semifinals over No. 7 seed Briar Cliff on penalty kicks (5-4) Tuesday night (Nov. 5). Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer ended the first 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw and neither team could find the back of the net in the golden goal extra time. A Charger smacked the crossbar on the final penalty as the Dawgs jumped in celebration of the GPAC tournament triumph.
CUNE moves to 7-3-9 and charges ahead to the semis for the eighth time in program history.
“We don’t get those moments often”, said Head Coach Jason Weides. “It was fun. We told the guys to enjoy it. At the core, you just have to give your best. The best shooters can miss and the weakest shooters can make. It is just a situation where, one, you have to believe in yourself and two, our team knows, that no matter what happens, we still love and trust in them. When you know that you can go up and perform at your best.”
⚽ | What the final moments looked and sounded like with Isaiah Shaddick and @CUNEWSoccer coach Nick Smith on the call.@CUNEMSOC will be at home on Saturday to host the GPAC semifinals. pic.twitter.com/Hm0EI7sqCi
— Concordia Bulldogs (@cunebulldogs) November 6, 2024
Ferdi Hagen, Martin Herrera, Iker Casanova, Sean Stratman and Spencer Kaufman made their PK’s to send the Bulldogs to the next round. Two Briar Cliff players missed in the standoff and gave room for the home squad to seal the win as Kaufman buried the final shot in the bottom right corner for Concordia.
In the first frame, the Bulldogs missed a penalty and the Chargers punished the home defense for a mistake that left the ball free in front of goal. Needing a spark on the offensive end, captain Ferdi Hagen saw the BCU defense drop back as he approached the box and booted in the equalizer (75’). Missing on his first chance, the sophomore out of Berlin, Germany, didn’t whiff on his second scoring his third goal in 2024.
Hagen said, “It was a great feeling, to be honest. It was a great game. We had a tough first half but we knew we were get the best from Briar Cliff. In the second half, we had most of the possession. We knew it was going to come. In PK’s, you can’t be better than someone at it. It’s just mentality. It’s a great feeling to go to the semifinal.”
Goalkeeper Nolan Fuleberth held onto four saves and was bolstered by his back line with Casanova, Braden Spath, Stratman, Michael Lindberg, Kaufman, Michael Wyvill and Adrian Wambua. Herrera (four), Hagen (three) and Ryan Wokutch (three) were out front for the home team in shots. Subs Aidan Nachi, Kai Olbrich and Oliver Benson provided energy off the bench.
The two teams were even through much of the match having totaled 13 shots and three corner kicks apiece. The Bulldogs had a slight edge in shots on goal (6-5) and Briar Cliff claimed 18 fouls and seven yellow cards. The Chargers season comes to an end with a 5-11-3 record.
Concordia (7-2-9, 6-0-4 GPAC) will face No. 3 seed Northwestern (8-4-5, 6-2-2 GPAC) on Saturday night. First kick is set for 7 p.m. CT inside Bulldog Stadium. CUNE bested NWC (1-0) in its conference opener on Sept. 18.