Bulldog Weekly Report (Aug. 28)

By Jacob Knabel on Aug. 28, 2018 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Male: Garrett Perry, Soccer

Perry, a sophomore from Corona, Calif., notched a pair of assists while helping fuel a 4-2 season opening win over Tabor College (Kan.) last week. The starting midfielder saw action in all 20 games last season for a squad the broke the program record for most wins in a campaign.

Female: Jenna Habegger, Volleyball

Habegger, a senior from Pawnee City, Neb., has been a breakout performer in the early going for the 4-0 Bulldogs. In the opening week of the season, Habegger tallied a team high 46 kills and hit .374 from the outside. Habegger has floored 315 kills over 162 career sets played at Concordia.

News and notes:

Preseason polls: GPAC preseason coaches’ polls for football, soccer and volleyball were all disseminated within the past month. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams were picked to finish second in the conference (the women received five first-place votes and the men collected two first-place nods). Meanwhile, the Concordia football team was pegged fourth and volleyball slotted in at No. 8 in the GPAC poll. The conference does not release official preseason polls for the sports of cross country or golf, which also take place in the fall.

Season previews: For detailed outlooks on Concordia’s fall sports teams, check out the season preview links below. Previews for cross country and football are yet to be released.
-Men’s Golf
-Women’s Golf
-Men’s Soccer
-Women’s Soccer
-Volleyball

Season openers on the horizon: Several of Concordia’s fall sports teams have yet to officially begin their seasons. The schedule for shooting sports, now administered by the athletic department, has not yet been released.
Season openers coming up
-Aug. 30-31: women’s golf (Mount Marty Invite)
-Aug. 31: men’s and women’s cross country (Augustana Twilight)
-Sept. 4-5: men’s golf (Blue River Classic)
-Sept. 8: football hosts Buena Vista University

Two-and-a-half years cancer free, Zeke is the victor: The golf course became a sanctuary for Nolan Zikas, who fought victoriously against cancer. The fight became especially intense during his freshman year. The star golfer is now two-and-a-half years cancer free. Now a senior, ‘Zeke’ serves as a strong leader for the men’s golf program and appears on the verge of breaking records. For more on Zikas’ journey, click HERE.

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is underway in its fourth year of existence. The show airs live for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT on KTMX-FM 104.9 Max Country. The weekly feature can also be heard live via 104.9 Max Country’s website or by downloading the Max Country app. Throughout the 2018-19 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country. Tyler Cavalli serves as the host of the coaches’ show as well as the play-by-play voice for football and basketball. Frank Greene is in his fourth season calling Concordia volleyball.

Concordia Sports Network: Live webcasts for most home varsity contests can be accessed by visiting http://www.cune.edu/csn at game time. Check team schedules/results pages for webcast dates. Scrimmages, exhibitions and junior varsity events are not broadcasted.

Volleyball

  • In terms of sheer results, the first week of action could not have gone much better for first-year head coach Ben Boldt and his squad. The Bulldogs opened up the 2018 season by pummeling York College in a match that lasted just over an hour. They then took their act to Orange City, Iowa, and toppled Waldorf University (Iowa), Baker University (Kan.) and MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) – all in straight sets. Concordia volleyball is now 4-0 to begin a season for the first time since the 2015 team blazed to a 6-0 start. For more on Bulldog volleyball, click HERE.
  • With four wins already in the bank, Concordia is nearly halfway to last season’s total victory count of nine (9-19). All four of the wins have ended in three sets, meaning the Bulldogs need only one more straight-sets triumph to equal their total from 2017 in that category. To provide further perspective on the schedule to date, Concordia has beaten teams that finished with 2017 Massey Ratings of 179th (York), 155th (Waldorf), 76th (Baker) and 22nd (MidAmerica Nazarene). Though there are not yet many data points, the Bulldogs’ schedule strength is rated 129th out of 220 NAIA programs by Massey.
  • Pawnee City, Neb., native Jenna Habegger is off to an impressive start in her senior season. She has moved to the outside hitter position after playing on the right side for her first three collegiate seasons. The change is paying off so far. Habegger leads the team with 46 kills and is hitting a cool .374. Following weekend action, Habegger ranked 29th among all NAIA volleyball players with an average of 3.83 kills per set. After seeing spot duty as a freshman and sophomore, Habegger’s role increased considerably as a junior when she amassed 219 kills over 98 sets played.
  • While Habegger (99 attacks) has been the go-to option so far, three of her teammates also have more than 20 kills on the season. Junior Alex La Plant (30 kills, .247), freshman Arleigh Costello (29 kills, .345) and Emmie Noyd (23 kills, .283) have each been efficient and reliable hitters through the first four matches. A native of Gothenburg, Neb., Costello is the lone lefty attacker on the roster. La Plant’s 510 career kills rank as the highest total of anyone on the current roster.
  • For most of the opening week, junior Kaci Hohenthaner filled the setter role. Based on the numbers, it appears she and her teammates have quickly gotten on the same page. As a team, Concordia is hitting .271 for the 11th best hitting percentage in the nation. It will be difficult to maintain a clip that high all season, but marked improvement upon last season’s .176 hitting percentage would go a long way towards making the Bulldogs a more competitive squad within the rugged GPAC.
  • How this team holds up during the conference season remains to be seen, but the early returns have been encouraging. Concordia already looks like a different team than the 2017 squad that at one point endured an 11-match skid. The Bulldogs’ handling of Baker in straight sets was a complete reversal of the 2017 season opener that saw the Wildcats leave Walz Arena with a victory in three sets. Concordia also avenged a 2016 loss to MidAmerica Nazarene, a program that has not dipped below the 20-win mark in a season since 2010.
  • The 4-0 start is made even more impressive by the fact that Boldt has yet to have his full complement of players at his disposal. Sophomore Tara Callahan returned to the court in the Saturday win over MidAmerica Nazarene and added another element to the team’s attack and defensive efforts at the net. However, sophomore middle Anna Lund has remained sidelined due to injury. Lund notched 113 kills as a freshman while showing the potential for increased production. She could be added into the mix in the near future.
  • Before her career is over, sophomore Marissa Hoerman could wind up developing into one of the conference’s top defensive specialists. She has led the charge so far in the back row with 48 digs. Boldt has talked about Hoerman as someone Bulldog fans will enjoy watching because of her nonstop motor and ability to pop the ball up on attacks that may have appeared destined to hit the floor. Hoerman should dwarf the 224 digs she totaled as a freshman.
  • Now begins a run of six-straight matches at home, including four this week. Next up on the docket is Wednesday’s 7 p.m. CT tussle with Kansas Wesleyan University (3-2). Concordia will then play three more nonconference NAIA opponents at this weekend’s Bulldog Bash (Aug. 31 – Sept. 1). The Bulldogs draw Bethany College (Kan.) (0-4) at 7 p.m. on Friday prior to Saturday matches against Valley City State University (N.D.) (0-4) at 11 a.m. and versus Benedictine University (Kan.) (1-1) at 5 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

  • The 2018 season opened up in positive fashion with Concordia turning in a 4-2 win over visiting Tabor College (Kan.) on Aug. 25. It marked the fifth-straight season that head coach Jason Weides’ program has come out on top in its opening game. Last season a 3-2 victory over Sterling College (Kan.) kick-started a record-breaking campaign that saw the Bulldogs go 16-3-1 overall and advance to the GPAC championship game for the third year in a row. For more information on Bulldog men’s soccer, click HERE.
  • The program’s rise over the past few seasons had a lot to do with the 2018 squad being picked second in the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll. Concordia even scooped up a couple of first-place votes – one from Hastings and another from a mystery head coach in the conference. Based on the preseason polls, the expectations have been trending upward for the program. The Bulldogs were picked third in 2017, fourth in 2016 and 2015 and fifth in 2014. The second place GPAC positioning this preseason is the highest in program history.
  • If the 2018 team is to live up or exceed preseason expectations, it will have to successfully fill the shoes of its 2017 top goal scorers. Last season’s seniors Micah Lehenbauer (12), Lewis Rathbone (12) and Marcelo Hernandez (11) combined for 35 of the team’s 51 goals. Their departures mean opportunities for fresh faces. Newcomers Roger de la Villa, Jack Arra and Konrad Sinu each recorded a goal within the first 11 minutes of the season opener. All three won starting positions to begin the season.
  • The starting 11 over the weekend included the three aforementioned newcomers in addition to eight returners. That group of returnees features 2017 all-conference honorees in Jack Bennett (second team), Carlos Ferrer (second team), Angel Alvarez (honorable mention) and Kevin Sanchez (honorable mention). Each of those four were started regularly last season. The same can be said for defender Derek Eitzmann, a senior from Lincoln, Neb. The lone player left on the roster to play in the 2015 GPAC title game victory is senior Aries Fung, who also started versus Tabor.
  • Following the win, Weides identified individual and team defense as areas that need improvement before the next time out. Concordia outshot Tabor 21-9, but carelessness in the back played a part in the Bluejays putting away a pair of second half goals. During last season’s successful run, the Bulldogs surrendered only 16 goals over 20 games. A proven keeper, Bennett posted a goals against average of 0.820 and a save percentage of .830 last season.
  • Weides enters this week with a chance at running his career head coaching win total to 100. After a stint as an assistant, the former Bulldog defender took over the head coaching role in 2008. Ten years later, the program is in a vastly more competitive position. The hallmark moment during his tenure was an upset of Hastings in the 2015 GPAC tournament championship game. The tournament title cemented a spot in the national tournament. Weides has guided the program to seven seasons in a row with at least 10 victories. His overall record stands at 98-78-18.
  • Not only did all three newcomers in the starting lineup notch their first career goals as Bulldogs, so too did junior David Carrasco. The native of Bogota, Colombia, headed home a goal off a corner kick in the 76th minute. Over his first two seasons at Concordia, Carrasco saw action in 17 games and attempted only 15 shots.
  • A pair of nonconference in-state foes make up this week’s schedule. The Bulldogs are headed to nearby York College today (Aug. 28) for a 3:30 p.m. CT kickoff in what will be the first road test of the season. Concordia will then host Bellevue University on Saturday in another game scheduled to get underway at 3:30 p.m. The Bulldogs will aim to duplicate results from last season when they defeated both the Panthers and the Bruins.

Women’s Soccer

  • For the first time in program history, Concordia women’s soccer entered a season as defending conference regular-season champions. Though at times sluggish in their hot and muggy season opener, the Bulldogs got out to an early lead and cruised to a 4-1 victory over visiting Tabor College (Kan.) on Aug. 25. Sixth-year head coach Greg Henson is now 5-1 in season openers during his tenure at Concordia. For more information on Bulldog women’s soccer, click HERE.
  • It’s become fair to say that Concordia is now a marquee foe on the schedule for any of its opposition. Though not picked by league coaches to repeat as GPAC regular-season champs, the Bulldogs checked in at No. 2 in the conference preseason poll (five first-place votes) and appeared just outside of the preseason NAIA national top 25 rankings. Since 2014, Concordia has found its way into the national top 25 in seven separate polls. The program’s peak position was 16th in September of 2015. This marks the fifth season in a row that the Bulldogs have received votes in at least of that year’s national polls.
  • Now a captain for the third year, senior Maria Deeter quickly registered in the scoring column in the season opener by burying two goals before nine minutes had elapsed. Those were the 24th and 25th career collegiate goals for the Lincoln Lutheran product. Her goal count has gone up each season of her career, spiking at 10 last season as a junior. As a midfielder, Deeter is a central figure in both Concordia’s offensive and defensive efforts. She made a strong push last season for GPAC Offensive Player of the Year and could do the same this fall.
  • The 2017 championship season saw the Bulldogs allow just 14 goals over 21 games. They were even more impressive within conference regular-season play, conceding one measly goal in 10 games. Though Concordia had one breakdown that led to Tabor’s only shot – and only goal – it looked the part of another stingy defensive squad. The Bulldogs outshot the Bluejays 16-1. Last season Concordia owned a 394-209 advantage over its opponents in the shot department.
  • Home dominance has been a theme throughout Concordia’s rise in becoming a power within the GPAC. Since the start of the 2014 campaign, the Bulldogs are now 36-6-2 when playing on their home turf. In the midst of that run, Concordia has hosted two GPAC tournament championship games which have featured large and boisterous crowds not typically associated with women’s soccer in the GPAC. The Bulldogs have not lost more than twice at home in a season since 2013.
  • Senior Lauren Martin will likely be a factor on the attacking end throughout this fall. She assisted on each of Concordia’s first three goals versus Tabor, including both of Deeter’s goals and one from Kaylee Brown. It appears Martin will get more opportunities for assists on corner kicks. Her corner kick into the box resulted in the game’s first goal. A native of Longmont, Colo., Martin has tallied eight goals and 11 assists in her 44 games as a Bulldog.
  • Each season the program seems to have at least one high-end freshman who can make an immediate impact. In game No. 1, Henson started a trio of freshmen: Madeline Haugen, Mikeila Martinez and Cheyenne Smith. Originally recruited as a goalkeeper, Smith has made herself comfortable at a center back position alongside sophomore Chelsea Bright. Henson is counting on that young duo to help keep clean Lindsey Carley, the 2017 GPAC Defensive Player of the Year. Broken down by class, the starting lineup featured four seniors, one junior, three sophomores and three freshmen.
  • Concordia will play only once this week before having the weekend off. The Bulldogs will welcome MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) to Seward on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff. The two sides last met in 2016 in the Kansas City area. The result was a 2-2 double overtime draw. Concordia will play three times at home before facing its first road test.

Football

  • A long preseason continues for head coach Patrick Daberkow’s squad, which has had an intrasquad scrimmage (Aug. 17) and a scrimmage with former GPAC rival Nebraska Wesleyan (Aug. 25). The Bulldogs reported to fall camp on Aug. 9. They will officially open up the season on Sept. 8 when NCAA Division III Buena Vista University (Iowa) makes its way to Bulldog Stadium for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff. Daberkow greeted the media back on July 31 when the GPAC held its annual football media day. Coverage from media day can be found HERE. For more information on Concordia football, click HERE.
  • The quarterback battle continues to rage on during fall practice. Daberkow has been asked about the situation on numerous occasions. In a Lincoln Journal Star piece from Aug. 26, Daberkow was quoted as saying, “They all bring something different to the table. If we could blend them all together, I think we’d have our guy. We’re still a work in progress at that position, but I like the guys we have. Any one of them will do a good job leading us.” Andrew Perea, a redshirt junior, has the most game experience. He threw for completed 62-of-119 passes (.521) for 643 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions over seven games last season.
  • After placing third last season, GPAC coaches and media have picked the Bulldogs to finish fourth in the conference in 2018. Concordia did not receive any votes in the official NAIA preseason coaches’ poll, but did appear at No. 30 in the national ranking released by the College Football America Yearbook. The Bulldogs finished the 2016 season ranked No. 19 in the NAIA coaches’ poll.
  • In terms of 2017 accolades, the team’s headlining returners are linebacker Lane Napier (first team All-GPAC), running back Ryan Durdon (second team All-GPAC), linebacker Kordell Glause (honorable mention All-GPAC) and offensive lineman Grady Koch (honorable mention All-GPAC). Gone are stars such as receiver Jared Garcia and defensive backs D’Mauria Martin and Tarence Roby. Though Concordia loses an all-time great at the receiver position, it likes the talent in that group with the likes of Art Anderson, Vincent Beasley and Lane Castaneda picking up the slack.
  • Many conference teams got their seasons started this past Saturday. All six GPAC squads in action earned victories. Hastings def. Peru State, 25-21. Doane def. Friends, 57-3. Midland def. MidAmerica Nazarene, 49-28. No. 3 Morningside def. William Penn, 49-21. Jamestown def. Valley City State, 28-26. Briar Cliff def. Waldorf, 40-13. In a game played on Aug. 23, No. 25 Dakota State def. Dakota Wesleyan, 27-18. In addition, six GPAC teams are scheduled to play nonconference games this Saturday.