No. 14 Bellevue edges Concordia men’s soccer

SEWARD, Neb. – The No. 14 Bruins of Bellevue University topped Concordia University, 2-0 Thursday, Sept. 10 at Bulldog Stadium. In the first meeting of the two teams since 2007, the Bulldogs put up a defensive fight and recorded six saves as a team.

Said head coach Jason Weides, “Bellevue is a really good team, we were right there with them. We feel it was a game if a few things would’ve went differently we would’ve came out of there with a win. I think it was a matter of execution at key moments both in the attack but more so in both goals we kind of gave them the opportunity to execute, they took those goals really well.”

There were opportunities for the Bulldogs to score. With just over 21 minutes left in the second stanza, Sean Doran headed the ball to the net off a free kick from Carlos Acosta but it was quickly grabbed by Bellevue keeper, Ben Martin. Toby Down also showed a fire to score late in the game with two and a half minutes left in the contest.

“We just didn’t test the keeper enough, only five shots on goal and not many of those really stretched and contested their keeper,” Weides noted.

The Bruins’ first goal came 11:21 into in the first half from Alan Carr on a free kick. After the break, Rob Smith found the back of the net for Bellevue with seven and a half minutes left in the contest.

The Bulldog outshot the Bruins, 12-9 but fell short of Bellevue on shots on goal, 5-8. Down led CUNE in shots with four, one on goal while Doran marked two shots, both on goal. For the Bruins, Smith took two shots, both on goal and tallied one goal. Jamie Henderson struck three times, two on goal.

In his first start for the Bulldogs, Jack Bennett fulfilled keeper duties for the tilt. The freshman marked five saves while playing all 90 minutes. On the other end of the pitch, Bruins’ keeper Martin also grabbed five saves during 90 minutes.

The Concordia Bulldogs fall to 3-2 on the season while the No. 14 Bellevue Bruins improve to 4-1-1.

The ‘Dogs will be back in action Sept. 19-20 as they venture to Colorado to take on Sterling College and Johnson and Wales University in Denver. Kickoff times are 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19 and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20.