MITCHELL, S.D. – The Concordia University men’s soccer team had hoped to wrap up the 2016 regular season with a third-straight victory. Host Dakota Wesleyan had other ideas on its senior day, which took place Saturday in Mitchell, S.D. Despite dominating possession most of the afternoon, the Bulldogs fell by a 2-1 score.
The loss leaves ninth-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad at 9-6-2 overall and 6-3 in conference play heading into next week’s postseason action. The Bulldogs had already clinched the No. 3 seed in the league tournament courtesy of Wednesday’s 3-2 victory at Doane.
“We played with good energy and effort overall,” Weides said. “I thought we dominated the game in most facets despite the score line. We just got going on the wrong foot conceding a PK goal seven minutes in. Then the second goal really hurt right before half and against the run of play.”
Down 2-0, Concordia waited just a bit too late to finally put its first goal away. The Bulldogs cut their deficit in half when Andrew Mussell assisted Alex Grocott on a header goal. But the Dakota Wesleyan goalkeeper rose to the occasion on this particular day and helped his team come away with the upset win.
The Bulldogs will try to put this one behind them quickly as they prepare to host sixth-seeded Northwestern (7-11, 4-5 GPAC) in the GPAC quarterfinals on Thursday (Nov. 3). Kickoff from Bulldog Stadium will be at 7 p.m. CT.
Concordia would love to duplicate the run it put together last season when it won the GPAC tournament title, capping it off with a 1-0 upset of Hastings in the championship tilt.
“We would like to have momentum moving into the playoffs, but we have to have a short memory and be ready for Thursday,” Weides said.
The Bulldogs have also sewed up their sixth-straight winning season. Concordia will need one win to extend its streak of consecutive 10-win campaigns to six as well.