There’s something about Concordia that a Soenksen just can’t resist. As determined as she may have been to blaze her own trail somewhere else, Grace Soenksen found herself unrolled at a familiar school in the fall of 2019. Not that she thought about it in these terms, but Grace was beginning a collegiate career that continues to write the final chapter of the Soenksen sibling legacy at Concordia.
Before there was Grace, brothers Timothy, Kevin and Gideon and sister Esther each donned Bulldog navy blue. When Grace found the back of the net in the ninth game of her freshman season, she became the fifth different Soenksen to score a goal at Concordia.
Just the way Grace had always planned it. Okay, maybe not.
Says Grace, “When I first started looking at colleges, I was dead set on, ‘There is no way I’m going to Concordia.’ I didn’t want to just follow everyone else. I was looking everywhere but I still had Concordia on my radar just in case. Once I visited and talked with Coach (Greg) Henson (former head coach), I felt like I could fit in a lot better than what I previously thought. He told me I wouldn’t just be the next Esther. I wasn’t just going to be Esther’s little sister. Then talking with professors about what I wanted to do, I realized this might actually be a good fit for me. I didn’t think I wanted to go there, but when I actually visited it hit me that this could work. It has.”
No, she’s not just another Esther. Grace is now coming off back-to-back First Team All-GPAC seasons as she looks ahead to year No. 4 as a Bulldog. A Conservation Biology major, Grace will again serve as a captain and a steadying force that Head Coach Thomas Goines knows he can lean upon every day, both in training and in games. At center back, Soenksen has started 51 out of a possible 54 games and was a key figure in the program’s GPAC tournament championship run that occurred during the spring of 2021.
Grace entered the program two years after Esther helped transform Concordia Women’s Soccer from 2014-17, a period that saw the Bulldogs win a combined three GPAC titles and make two national tournament appearances. In a much different role, Esther put away 31 goals and tallied 23 assists in 84 collegiate games. Grace is making her mark in her own way. Between Esther and Grace, the program will have had a Soenksen in the starting 11 in eight out of nine years.
“I think the biggest thing for Grace is consistency,” Goines said. “You know exactly how she’s going to play every single training session and every single game. It’s all out. She gives everything she has physically and emotionally to the team and she’s grown into a leadership role. You know what you’re going to get from a player like her – and that’s a championship quality effort every single training session. As a coach, that’s everything you hope for.”
It's fair to say that Grace was born to play soccer. One of nine siblings, Grace and her brothers and sisters could just about field their own team. Grace estimates she was roughly four years old when she got her first pair of soccer cleats. With so many older siblings, Grace had to catch on quickly – or risk losing all bragging rights in those family get togethers. For several years, the Soenksens have had a tradition of playing soccer as a family on Thanksgiving Day.
Going back many years, Grace started to become familiar with Concordia. The Lincoln Lutheran High School alum watched her older siblings play in Seward and even played at Bulldog Stadium herself in high school matches. While Grace initially erased Concordia from the picture, she couldn’t ignore it. Grace’s conversations with Esther piqued her interest.
The fit was right for Grace, who would have the benefit of enjoying Concordia’s new Dunklau Center as part of her campus experience. From a soccer perspective, Grace did not have a guaranteed spot in the lineup. Neither she nor the coaches were sure what her immediate role would be in the fall of 2019. When she got the opportunity, she pounced on it.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” Grace said. “I was very nervous going there and figuring out what the level of expectations were. I remember it being kind of a wakeup call. I had to pick my stuff up. At the very beginning of my freshman year, I wasn’t the first pick for things. I wasn’t in a starting spot in practice and stuff like that. It really helped when Coach (Chris) Luther did film sessions and I would listen to the critiques he would have for the defenders. I knew that’s where I wanted to be. I started picking up and learning from the older girls in my role. When we went and played in Arkansas, Tori Cera, who was playing center back, got hurt. Luther decided to take a chance and put me in there. That’s kind of where it started. I had to learn from everyone else and pay attention more than I ever have.”
As Grace became more vocal, she expanded her capacity as a leader. A consistent strength for the program has been its ability to limit opposing strikers, and Grace has had a big role in that. She’s far from the scared freshman she was a few years ago.
Said Goines of Grace’s growth, “She organizes the line and she’s in charge now. I don’t think there’s a question about who is in charge of making things flow. She’s done that for three years now for one of the top defenses in the conference.”
Defensive grit carried the Bulldogs in April 2021 when they went on a remarkable GPAC tournament championship run. It took the toughness of players like Grace to make it happen. On April 9, 2021, Grace and her teammates celebrated a 2-1 home win over Jamestown in a conference championship game pushed into the second semester due to COVID-19.
Recalls Grace, “We weren’t necessarily expected to win and we had definitely gone through some hard times with people leaving or stuff within the team. There was a lot of stuff going on. Since we had been playing the whole year straight, everyone was tired and exhausted because we had been going and going and going. I think it made it more meaningful that people didn’t expect us to do that. We had nothing to lose so we just put it all out there and showed we could do that.”
It was a high-water mark on the field for Grace, who doesn’t have to take a back seat to any of her siblings when it comes to her soccer career. While following in the footsteps of the four Soenksens who came before her at Concordia, Grace has become a respected leader. She’s honored to be a team captain.
“There are hard parts of the job but it’s nice to be seen as a leader and to be a kind face for the people coming in,” Grace said. “I want to let them know this isn’t going to be perfect all the time, but that’s okay. We’ve all been through it. I came in the same way – very nervous. It’s nice to be able to be there for someone else.”
When Grace concludes her collegiate career, it will wrap up this era of Soenksens at Concordia. Perhaps there will be another generation of the family to continue that legacy years down the road. For Grace, this journey got started many years ago. She’s just doing what Soenksens do.
Says Grace, “I remember getting my first pair of cleats and I was very excited about that. It was like I was joining the family.”