SEWARD, Neb. – Constantly searching and believing for a game winner, the Bulldogs hadn’t found one in six games; that is until Wednesday night (Sept. 18). Concordia Men’s Soccer shutout Northwestern (1-0) in its GPAC opener at Bulldog Stadium, bringing confidence into the rest of conference play.
CUNE has broken even at a 2-2-4 overall record and 1-0 in the GPAC. Head Coach Jason Weides spoke about opening conference play with a win versus the Red Raiders.
“Northwestern is a good team. They have been at the top of the conference for a long time. They challenged us in many ways and our guys did a great job standing up to the challenge. Ultimately, we needed to start off conference play with a win. It’s really important. We have ambitious goals, and we have to find ways to get results against tough teams like this.”
In the 68th minute, Jarrod Henson fought off two defenders for possession and split two more with a through ball. A streaking Herrera beat his defender in road runner fashion and kicked in a goal from left to right past the outstretched hands of the Red Raider keeper. The senior, out of Quito, Ecuador, paces the Bulldogs with three scores and Henson collected his first point of the year.
Coach Weides said, “That was an extraordinary moment, and we have asked our guys to do ordinary things at an extraordinary level. Overall our team did that today, but for those two guys that was an extraordinary moment to complete that goal.”
For 90 minutes, goalkeeper Nolan Fuelberth lived out what the coaches had been preaching about, doing ordinary things really well. The Lincoln, Neb., native quietly grabbed five saves and a shutout for his first of 2024. He has five clean sheets in his career at Concordia.
Fuelberth said postgame, “It was great. Especially against Northwestern, we tied 2-2 (2023). It is so important to start off the year like that. It’s a big win and carries a lot of momentum in the next few games.”
Along with Fuelberth, the back line featured many players and newcomer Sean Stratman could seem to poke away almost any opportunity by an opposing forward. Michael Lindberg, Michael Wyvill and captain Ferdi Hagen got the starting nod, but a goal line package was put in to build a wall in the final minutes that also featured captain Iker Casanova and Adrian Wambua.
Concordia immediately celebrated the victory and rang the bell as time expired as every team member was needed to clinch the win. The two teams ended with 11 shots apiece and D’Andre Williams had five of them. The bench played a huge role as if they were the 12th man on the field.
The Red Raiders (1-2-3) were able to edge the Bulldogs in shots on goal (5-4) and corner kick opportunities (5-3). Goalkeeper Rick Lammerts collected three saves while Alex Ruiz led the visitors with four shots. Northwestern will go back home to Orange City, Iowa and prepare to host Midland on Saturday.
Concordia (2-2-4, 1-0 GPAC) will travel to Sioux Center, Iowa to face Dordt (2-3-2, 0-0-1 GPAC) this Saturday. The Bulldogs will line up at 4:15 p.m. CT at the Dordt Soccer Complex. The Defenders served a 3-0 first round defeat to Concordia in the GPAC Tournament last season.