SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia University women’s soccer team has now held its opponents scoreless over the past 224 minutes. All the Bulldogs needed on Saturday evening was a 16th-minute goal from Maria Deeter in order to see out a 1-0 victory over visiting Graceland University (Iowa) inside Bulldog Stadium. Periods of heavy rain made for miserable conditions for much of the first half.
But a second-straight victory made up for it. The result means fourth-year head coach Greg Henson is now the winningest coach in the history of the program. Now 39-19-9, Henson passed up Bill Schranz on Saturday as his team bumped its record to 2-1-1 on the young season.
“It really boils down to the players and their buy in to what we’re doing and the culture that we’re trying to create,” Henson said. “Hats off to the senior class. We came in together. They’ve been a great class. This is just another one of the records that this program’s broken over the last four years.”
Senior goalkeeper Chrissy Lind notched five saves in picking up the 21st shutout of her career. The Bulldogs outshot the Yellowjackets, 16-12. Concordia put nine shots on frame, including three by Esther Soenksen, who assisted Deeter’s second goal of the season.
After surrendering a combined four goals during the season-opening weekend in Kansas City, the Bulldogs made it an emphasis to return to their stingy defensive ways.
“When we came back from Kansas City we wanted to focus on our work off the ball and tightening some things up,” Henson said. “We want to make sure that we’re sound defensively. There are still a few things that we need to tweak and work on, but overall, it’s really coming along for us right now.”
A member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference, Graceland went 7-11 overall in 2015. It opened up its season on Wednesday with a 0-0 draw at Park University.
The run of four-straight home games continues on Wednesday when the Bulldogs welcome Grace University to town for a 7 p.m. kickoff. In the previous meeting which occurred in 2014, Concordia handed the Royals a 6-0 defeat.