SEWARD, Neb. – It’s almost always a tight one when the Concordia University women’s soccer program locks horns with Morningside. With a berth in the GPAC semifinals at stake, the Bulldogs made a 79th minute goal by Tori Cera stand up in yet another conference tournament triumph. Third-seeded Concordia sent the sixth-seeded Mustangs packing with a 1-0 victory inside Bulldog Stadium on Wednesday night (Oct. 31).
Head coach Greg Henson has now led the program to at least the conference semifinals in each of his six seasons with the Bulldogs. Concordia will take a 12-2-5 overall record into the next round of postseason play. It effectively shook off a 3-2 loss to Briar Cliff in the regular-season finale.
“It’s just a matter of refocusing,” Henson said. “The playoffs are a second season. It’s brand new for everybody and the records don’t matter anymore. We were focused on playing 90 minutes at a time. We earned the opportunity to play at home in the first round and we wanted to take advantage of it and seize the moment.”
Cera did exactly that. This wasn’t going to end in penalty kicks like the most recent GPAC postseason contest played on the home turf. With 11:42 left on the clock, Cera stepped up and drilled a shot from nearly 40 yards out into the back of the net. It marked her fifth goal of the season and most significant one yet.
It’s really not hyperbolic to say that this was the goal of the year. Down their leading goal scorer, the Bulldogs have to scrap for a lot of what they get.
“It’s definitely up there,” Cera said when asked to compare to other goals scored in her career. “I’ve never shot that far. I had the opportunity so I just took it and it went in.”
After the opening few minutes, prime goal scoring chances were few and far between for Concordia. It missed out early on shots taken by Lauren Martin and Becky Freeman before the third minute had elapsed. Morningside (10-8-1) outshot the Bulldogs, 12-5. In goal, sophomore Lindsey Carley made four saves while earning the shutout.
With a couple of breaks, the Mustangs could have rolled out of town with a win. Concordia survived a scary sequence just after the 60’ mark when center back Cheyenne Smith’s slide tackle stifled a shot attempt. In the ensuing moments, Morningside’s Chloe Wetzbarger drilled the ball off the crossbar. Top Mustang goal scorers Merle Bublitz and Paytn Harmon both fired off three shots for the game.
There’s just something about playing in the postseason at Bulldog Stadium, where Concordia is officially 7-0-1 in conference tournament games under Henson. It doesn’t always have to be a thing of beauty.
Said Henson, “The focus for us was shutting down and keeping in check their two top goal scorers. They’re both dangerous goal scorers. We wanted to keep them in front of us and not let them in behind. We did a decent job of that. Sometimes you just have to have that survive and advance mentality.”
This contest is what the winning formula may have to look like with senior captain Maria Deeter sidelined, although she did suit up and make a brief appearance at the end of the first half.
This marked the fourth year in a row that Concordia and Morningside have matched up at some point in the conference tournament. They were combatants in back-to-back GPAC title games in 2015 and 2016. Now it’s on to face rival and second-seeded Midland (ranked 17th nationally) in the semifinals. The two sides played to a 1-1 draw in Fremont on Oct. 24.
“You expect the same type of game,” Henson said. “It’s going to be a dogfight. Two good teams are going to go at it. It’s going to be another physical, grind-it-out type of game.”
Saturday’s semifinal at Midland (13-1-3) will kick off at 2 p.m. CT. The winner will play in the GPAC championship game on Thursday, Nov. 8 versus either top-seeded Hastings or fifth-seeded Briar Cliff.