St. Ambrose tops Bulldog men
DAVENPOERT, Iowa – The Concordia men’s soccer team suffered its first loss Saturday, Sept. 5 to St. Ambrose, 1-3. Julian Amaya was the lone goal scorer for the Bulldogs, scoring his third goal of the season.
Said head coach Jason Weides, “Overall I thought St. Ambrose was more motivated to win their first game than we were to win our fourth. We played below the standard we set in the last couple of weeks and St. Ambrose just adapted better. The heat was an issue as well and that was something else that St. Ambrose seemed to adapt to better than we did as well. We struggled to attack and make contact. We didn’t press as well as the last few games. St. Ambrose’s goals had more to do with us than them, not to take away from St. Ambrose as a team. We just made too many mistakes.”
Amaya was the first to find the back of the net in the first half. The goal came ten minutes into the match off a penalty kick. The Bees’ first goal came from an own goal 27:17 into the half. With under three minutes left until halftime, St. Ambrose scored again in the form of Shaquille Jones. Late in the game with over 83 minutes gone by, the Bees were able to take advantage of a penalty kick to make the score a final 3-1.
Amaya led the Bulldogs with one goal, two shots on goal and four total shots. Also taking more than one shot were Toby Down (3) and Gideon Soenksen (2). CUNE ended the match with 11 shots to St. Ambrose’s 12. Shots on goal were also in the Bees’ favor, 9-5.
On the upcoming battle against No. 14 Bellevue University Weides said, “Every game is unique. We need to take steps forward after each game and today we just took a step to the side, the biggest thing is to just keep moving forward. We need to adapt to changes quickly. It’s not that we are lacking the desire to win, St. Ambrose just had more motivation to win their first game. Having motivation going into a game against a ranked opponent isn’t going to be hard for the guys, they’re hyped up and ready to go.”
Filling keeper duties for the Bulldogs was Mark Horsburgh for 83 and a half minutes, recording six saves. Coming in for the last six and a half minutes was freshman Jack Bennett. For St. Ambrose, Tom Greensall filled the net for the entire 90 minutes while marking four saves.
The Bulldogs fall to 3-1 on the season while the Bees grab their first win of the year, improving to 1-2.
The Concordia men’s soccer team will return to the pitch Thursday, Sept. 10. The Bulldogs will invite the No. 14 Bruins of Bellevue University to Bulldog Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff.