SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia University men’s soccer team is still looking for that goal scoring outburst, but so far it’s done a credible job of taking care of business. For the first time in the GPAC era, the Bulldogs are unbeaten after their first five games of the season. Tenth-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad is one of two GPAC teams without a loss. Concordia is now 4-0-1 overall.
This week’s schedule
Wednesday, Sept. 13 at Waldorf University, 3:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, Sept. 16 vs. Kansas Wesleyan University, 3:30 p.m. CT
The Bulldogs escaped Lamoni, Iowa, with a 2-1 victory in last week’s only outing. Concordia overcame a 1-0 deficit with goals by Lewis Rathbone and Marcelo Hernandez. A foul in the box led to Hernandez’s game winner on a penalty kick in the 88th minute. Hernandez took over the team lead with three goals on the year. Once again, Jack Bennett played all 90 minutes in goal. He and the Bulldogs have allowed their opponents a total of four goals this season. The game number for Concordia has been two. It is 4-0 when scoring two or more goals.
Weides has led back-to-back teams to the GPAC championship game, but neither of those squads were unbeaten after their opening five contests. The 2017 Bulldogs are believed to be the first in program history without a loss through five games since the 1974 edition started out 7-0. The ’73 squad started out 6-0-1. Weides’ 2011 group opened up 6-1-1 and finished the campaign at 11-5-3 overall.
Concordia will attempt to avenge a 1-0 overtime loss to Waldorf last fall. The Warriors went 12-6-1 last season and are off to a 4-3 start in 2017. Waldorf has already tallied 31 goals, though 20 of them came in a 20-0 win over Nebraska Christian. The Warriors are 2-2 so far against GPAC opponents. Meanwhile, Kansas Wesleyan (1-3) enters the week having lost three in a row since a 2-1 season opening win over Doane.
The conference season will get started on Sept. 23 when the Bulldogs travel to play at Dakota Wesleyan.