The campaign ended sooner than Head Coach Jason Weides and company had expected, but the 2024 season saw the Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer program continue to place itself in position to contend for a GPAC title. As the league’s most air-tight defensive team, the Bulldogs put together a near perfect month of October and earned the right to host the GPAC Championship Game for the first time ever. Ultimately, Concordia came up one win shy of its stated goal of reaching the NAIA national tournament.
The final overall record rested at 8-3-9. The Bulldogs placed as the GPAC runner up in both the regular season and postseason. The campaign ended in heartbreak on Nov. 13 when Concordia fell by a 1-0 score to rival Hastings in the GPAC final. The program made its fifth appearance in the conference championship game since 2015.
“It’s one of those where we had the opportunity to have the conference final at home, something we strived hard for to put ourselves in position to host,” Weides said. “It was fun to be able to host in front of Bulldog Nation. We’re pretty good at home typically, so we liked our odds. Our goal at the beginning of the season was nationals. We were just 90 minutes away from that and one opportunity away from achieving that goal. Certainly it hurts. Our guys were prepared. We prepared all season for that. I think our guys were really ready mentally. We were in the right mindset. I think that was one of those games where there were some good things that happened in the match, but we weren’t quite at our best.”
The championship loss aside, the 2024 season was characterized by an inordinate number of ties and by the Bulldogs’ ability to stifle opposing attacks (just 16 goals allowed in 20 games). Mexico City, Mexico, native Iker Casanova made his return for a ‘COVID Year’ and was named the GPAC Defensive Player of the Year. Casanova starred at center back and was joined on the GPAC’s all-conference first team by sophomore Ferdi Hagen and senior Martin Herrera. A memorable postseason run played at Bulldog Stadium included a PK shootout advancement past Briar Cliff in the GPAC quarterfinals and a 3-2 win over Northwestern in the semifinals.
The difference that Casanova made for the Concordia backline was unmistakable. In the 12 games he played against conference opponents in 2024, the Bulldogs surrendered a combined nine goals while earning four clean sheets. Over five seasons at Concordia, Casanova played in 79 career games and was a member of the 2022 team won the GPAC tournament title and the 2023 team that enjoyed an undefeated regular season.
Said Weides of Casanova, “It’s definitely fitting for him (to be named GPAC Defensive Player of the Year). He had a great career. This year he was really instrumental to us. He was injured coming into the season and missed the first seven games. It was an immediate impact once he was back. His leadership, his organization and his play – he was really playing at a great level for us this year.”
At season's end, the Bulldogs finished ranked 11th nationally for goals against average (0.79). That achievement was a credit to not only Casanova but also fellow all-conference back line teammates in freshman Sean Stratman and sophomore Mike Wyvill, as well as keeper Nolan Fuelberth. Both Stratman and Wyvill emerged onto the scene in their first seasons as starters. Meanwhile, Fuelberth played the keeper position as well as anyone in the GPAC.
On the attacking end, Herrera (Quito, Ecuador) saved his best season for his last. Herrera paced the Bulldogs with 11 goals (to go with three assists). In one of the more thrilling games of the fall, Herrera put away two goals in Concordia’s 6-2 home throttling of rival Midland to end the regular season. Other top attacking options included D’Andre Williams (four goals and six assists), Ryan Wokutch (six goals and two assists) and Oliver Benson (four goals and two assists). In the middle of the park, Hagen earned First Team All-GPAC honors for a second-straight year.
Incredibly, the Bulldogs went another season without dropping a GPAC regular season game. The program’s conference regular season unbeaten streak has moved to 30 (20-0-10 over that stretch) and dates back to Sept. 21, 2022. The biggest frustration this past regular season were the rash of draws that occurred. Through September, seven of the team’s first 11 games resulted in ties (six of those contests ended in 1-1 scores). Eventually the tide turned in October.
Concordia can take pride in the fact that it lost only three times and played one of the tougher nonconference slates in program history. Three games outside of league play came against teams that were ranked in the top 25: No. 7 Bellevue University, No. 17 Columbia College (Mo.) and No. 24 Benedictine College (Kan.). A 90th minute PK for Bellevue (an NAIA final site qualifier) was all that separated it from the Bulldogs in a 2-1 decision. Concordia later made a postseason run that included the thrill of a PK shootout triumph.
Weides felt confident his team was capable of competing with teams that advanced in the national tournament. Said Weides, “It's tough to see the season end. We knew we needed to win that (GPAC championship) match to get to nationals. We talk so much about building a championship culture. Part of that is being able to deal with frustration, disappointment or loss in a championship way. I think our guys are learning how to do that right now. You have to pick yourself up. We have a really good group – a group we felt could go and do well at nationals. We knew we were of that caliber. Due to having so many ties, we weren’t in position to get an at-large. It’s tough watching other teams at the national tournament knowing we are that caliber. It’s also hard because we enjoy being around each other and we wanted to train more and have the opportunity to be together longer as a team.”
The aforementioned Herrera, Fuelberth and Williams were each part of the senior class. Others honored on senior day were Ryan Brown, Jarrod Henson, Carter Hinman, Spencer Kaufman, Gabriel Mendoza and Manuel Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Casanova, Wokutch, Michael Lindberg and Braden Spath all made use of the COVID exemption. Unfortunately for Hinman, a First Team All-GPAC selection in 2023, injuries limited him to only four games in his final collegiate season.
Despite the departures heading into 2025, the program has proven it can reload with remarkable consistency from year to year. There’s a possibility Fuelberth could return in 2025 and serve as one of the nation’s top keepers. He may be priority No. 1 in a recruiting process that will pick up steam now that the offseason has arrived.
“We’ll have a big class coming in this year,” Weides said. “There will be a mix of transfers and freshmen. We’ll probably look to see if we can get one or two in this January. Ultimately, it will be a strong class full of guys who can help impact our team right away. Recruiting never stops. It certainly picks up now that the season is over and we can invest a little bit more time and energy into that. I’m excited to get going.”