No. 23 Bulldogs take control early in GPAC win over Warriors

By Chase Benton on Sep. 27, 2023 in Men's Soccer

NOTE: Concordia's third goal of the game was later credited to Ryan Wokutch after further review. Wokutch scored two goals in the victory.

SEWARD, Neb. – No. 23 Concordia grabbed an early 2-0 lead and didn’t look back on Wednesday (Sept. 27), in the 4-1 victory versus Midland. The Bulldogs protected home field, extending their home win streak to 18 (17-0-1) since the 2021 season. Izzy Shaddick connected the first two assists, resulting in the jump (over Carlos Ferrer) to No. 2 in the all-time assist leaderboard. He is now has 19 career assists, and is two away from tying former teammate Carlos Orquiz.

The Dawgs stay unbeaten forging a 9-0-1 overall record and 3-0-1 in the GPAC. Head coach Jason Weides commented about a team mentality over an individual mentality.  

“Our guys came out and played well. We talked about a we over a me mentality and overall I think we demonstrated that today. We were able to get up early and we scored on a couple of set plays, which was nice. It was unfortunate that we conceded a goal late, but I loved our response to get a goal (about) 10 seconds later. We got guys that are confident that they can come out and score goals. It just depends on the situation, but it is great they don’t have just one guy they can key on.”

Carter Hinman, pressing into the defensive box, forced the goalkeeper to make a bad pass straight to Shaddick. Izzy, made a move and returned the favor to Hinman, striking his 8th goal of the year past the keeper.

In the 23rd minute, the Bulldogs took advantage of a corner kick, with a Shaddick to Braden Spath connection by header for the second goal. Spath contributed his first goal and big defensive blocks out of the penalty area throught the match.

Coming out of the break, Ferdi Hagen hit a header into the back of the net by Martin Herrera from another corner kick. Hagen, the freshman out of Berlin, Germany, scored his second goal in 2023. Ferdi Hagen talked about his second goal of the season, which came on his birthday.

Surrounded by his teammates screaming, Happy Birthday! He replied, “I didn’t do it for me (score), I did it for my team", as he smiled.

After conceding a goal late in the match, Ryan Wokutch roared back with a goal in the final minute of play, putting a stamp on another GPAC win.

The Bulldogs manhandled the Warriors in shots (19-6) and in corner kicks (9-2).

Concordia (9-0-1, 3-0-1 GPAC) will go north to Mitchell, South Dakota to step on the field against Dakota Wesleyan (4-3-1, 0-2-1 GPAC) on Saturday (Sept. 30). First whistle is set for 3 p.m. CT at Pepsi-Cola Soccer Complex. The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers in 2022, in a 6-1 route at Bulldog Stadium.

Box Score