GAME NOTES: Bulldog men to host No. 14 Bellevue
SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia men’s soccer team will host the No. 14 Bruins from Bellevue Thursday, Sept. 10 for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Bulldogs have a 3-1 record so far this season while the Bruins come into the contest with a 3-1-1 mark.
MATCH INFO
Bellevue University (3-1-1) at Concordia University (3-1)
Thursday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m. CT
Site: Bulldog Stadium
Webcast: Concordia Sports Network
Last time out
Last week, the Bulldogs outscored York College, 7-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Toby Down supplied three of the seven goals less than 25 minutes into the match. Micah Lehenbauer contributed two goals to Concordia’s total while Sean Doran and Julian Amaya each tallied one goal apiece. Mark Horsburgh and Jack Bennett split the time in the net, each playing one half and recording a combined three saves on five shots on goal. On Saturday, Sept. 5, the Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the season to St. Ambrose, 1-3. Amaya was the lone goal scorer for the Bulldogs.
GPAC individual rankings
Julian Amaya – points per game, fifth (10.0), assists per game, tied for second (1.00), total assists, tied for first (4), total goals, tied for seventh (3)
Toby Down – goals per game, fifth(1.00), total goals, tied for fourth (4)
Mark Horsburgh – saves, sixth (13), goals against average, fourth (0.58)
Micah Lehenbauer – total goals, tied for seventh (3)
Quotable
“We know we have goals in us. We’ve been talking all week about playing at the standard we’re trying to set. Ultimately I think the guys did a great job of doing that today. I think there were some challenges today in it being the first road game of the year. That makes things interesting. And it was our first time playing on grass. I was really pleased with the way we came out and didn’t waste much time.”
-Jason Weides on the win against York
“You have to take a chance sometimes and shoot from distance, otherwise you’re not going to get goals. Just had a go and it went into the top corner luckily. Otherwise the team would have been shouting at me.”
-Toby Down on the win against York
Scouting Bellevue
The No. 14 Bruins of Bellevue are carrying an overall record of 3-1-1 into Thursday’s match. In its first game of the season, the team tied No. 4 Grand View then went on to win three straight and dropped its latest game, 1-2 to Westminster (Utah) on Sunday, Sept. 6. As a team, the Bruins are tallying 14.6 shots per game with a shot on goal percentage of .507. Individually, Jamie Henderson leads Bellevue with two goals on the season. Keeper Ben Martin has filled the net for the Bruins every contest this season and is recording a .800 save percentage so far. The Bellevue Bruins are led by head coach Matt Briggs who is in his ninth season at Bellevue. Briggs is assisted by Mark Heath-Preston, Mitch Kavanagh and Tom White.
GPAC preseason rankings
In the preseason coaches’ poll announced Wednesday, Aug. 19, Concordia University was picked fourth while receiving one first place vote and 74 points. This ranking ties the highest preseason pick dating back to 2006 in the GPAC. Hastings, defending GPAC champion, was picked first followed by Midland and Doane.
Up next on the pitch
The Bulldogs will return to action Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20 when they take on Sterling College (Kan.) and Johnson & Wales University (Colo.) in Denver Colo. Kickoff times are set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Sterling and 2:30 p.m. Sunday verse Johnson and Wales.