BELLEVUE, Neb. – For the second-straight outing, the Concordia University women’s soccer team attempted to rally back after conceding the game’s first goal. This time around, the Bulldogs failed to match the pair of goals recorded by Bellevue’s Jordyn Seidel and the host Bruins prevailed, 2-1, on Wednesday night. In the process, Bellevue avenged a 2-1 loss to Concordia in 2015.
Fourth-year head coach Greg Henson’s squad saw its five-game unbeaten streak come to an end and now stands at 4-2-1 overall. The Bruins (3-3) were Concordia’s opponent of the season that received votes in the NAIA preseason coaches’ poll.
“They struck first with unfortunately has been kind of a theme this year,” Henson said. “We responded very well throughout the end of the first half and into the second half. We created a lot of very dangerous opportunities. Rachael Bolin had a very nice goal early in the second half. I felt like we had Bellevue on its heels at that point. Unfortunately we weren’t able to capitalize on the momentum and the chances that we had.”
After facing a 1-0 halftime deficit, Bolin’s equalizer found the back of the net in the 50th minute for her second goal of the year. But the score didn’t hold for long. Seidel bit the Bulldogs again with a goal in the 54th minute. The performance gave Seidel her second and third goals of the season.
Bolin put four shots on frame on the night for a Concordia squad that held advantages in total shots, 20-18, and shots on goal, 10-6. Sami Birmingham and Maria Deeter also took four shots apiece on the night.
“It was a back-and-forth affair with two good attacking teams going at each other,” Henson said. “The game could have easily been 6-5 one way or the other. Both goalkeepers played well to keep the score line at 2-1. There a lot of positives to take away from the game even though the result is not what we want.”
Chrissy Lind played all 90 minutes in goal for Concordia and made four saves. A total of 15 Bulldogs saw action.
This marked the fourth-straight season that the Concordia-Bellevue matchup was decided by a margin of one goal in what has become a competitive in-state rivalry.
The Bulldogs will conclude the nonconference portion of their regular-season schedule on Saturday when Bethany College (2-3) visits Bulldog Stadium for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff. Concordia is 4-0 at home this season. The Bulldogs and Swedes have not met since an 8-1 Concordia victory on Sept. 11, 2010.