Bulldog Weekly Report (Nov. 1, 2016)

By Jacob Knabel on Nov. 1, 2016 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Female: Alayna Kavanaugh, Volleyball

Kavanaugh, a native of Roca, Neb., piled up 147 assists over 12 sets last week while leading the Bulldogs to a trio of wins. For her efforts, Kavanaugh garnered GPAC and NAIA national setter of the week awards. Her 76 assists in the win over Dakota Wesleyan stand out as the most assists in a single match by any player in the NAIA this season.

Male: Alex Grocott, Men’s Soccer

Grocott, who hails from Darlington, England, totaled two goals and two assists last week as Concordia split a pair of GPAC road games. The goal in the 3-2 win at Doane marked the first of Grocott’s career. He’s appeared in 12 games for the Bulldogs, who earned the No. 3 seed in the GPAC tournament that begins this week.

News and notes:

Winter to step down from head football post: On Monday (Oct. 31) it was announced that Concordia head football Coach Vance Winter will step away from his post after eight years at the helm of the program. Winter will finish the 2016 season before officially resigning. He cited family reasons for his decision. For more on Winter, click HERE.

Annual Cattle Classic tips off Friday: The 17th annual Cattle Classic will run Friday and Saturday inside Walz Arena. The event features two men’s and two women’s games on both days of the basketball classic. Fans will be admitted in exchange for canned goods. The event, co-sponsored by Concordia and The Cattle National Bank & Trust Co., raises money and food for the Blue Valley Community Action's Food Pantry. Pac N Save of Seward will match all canned food donations. For more information on the event, click HERE.

Cole welcomes target of No. 1 ranking: As Kodie Cole puts it, “I might have a little different story than others.” A winding path took Cole from his hometown Palmdale, Calif., to Concordia. As a senior he finds himself with a No. 1 national ranking and in position to succeed like never before. Read more about Kodie’s story HERE.

Wrestling begins new era Saturday: Andrew Nicola will make his debut as head wrestling coach on Saturday when he takes the Bulldogs to the Grand View Open in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. Concordia is ranked atop the GPAC/NAIA North Group and garnered a No. 8 national rating in the preseason national coaches’ poll. For a season preview, click HERE.

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 6 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is already underway in its second year of existence. The show airs live for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 6 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 TuneIn Radio app and searching “Max Country.” Throughout the 2016-17 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country.

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.

Women’s Soccer

  • The Bulldogs will roll into the postseason riding the wave of a five-game winning streak. Concordia stayed hot last week while taking its act on the road for drubbings of Doane, 5-0, and Dakota Wesleyan, 4-1. Fourth-year head coach Greg Henson’s squad ran through the month of October with a record of 7-1 and completed the regular season at 12-5-1 overall and 7-3 in conference action. For more information on Bulldog women’s soccer, click HERE.
  • Concordia hasn’t allowed any of its last five opponents to even sniff victory. The active five-game win streak has seen the Bulldogs outscore their foes by a combined total of 20-1. Dakota Wesleyan managed the only goal, snapping a run of four-straight shutouts by goalkeeper Chrissy Lind and company. Throughout October, Concordia outnumbered its opponents, 35-5. The only loss in the month came at the hands of Midland, which earned the No. 2 seed in the GPAC tournament.
  • Henson has what is easily his most explosive goal scoring team since he’s been at Concordia. Among all NAIA women’s soccer programs, the Bulldogs now rank 11th in total goals (58) and 17th in goals per game (3.22). Since the program’s birth in 1996, only three teams in school history have matched the 2016 squad in terms of total goals. This year’s 58 goals ranks behind squads from 2004 (82), 1999 (59) and 2005 (59). Two more scores would put the 2016 squad second on the all-time list.
  • It was a breakout week for junior Jessica Skerston, who padded her stats with her first career hat trick, which occurred at Doane. Shen also notched one goal to help put the game to bed at Dakota Wesleyan. Skerston’s 36 career goals are the most of any active Bulldog. She tallied 17 as a freshman, 10 as a sophomore and nine so far as a junior. Four of her goals have come in GPAC tournament games, including the game winner that beat Hastings in the 2014 conference championship game.
  • Freshman Sami Birmingham has averaged nearly a goal per game while playing in all 18 matches as a rookie. Not only did she add to her total with two goals last week, she also assisted on four others as part of another big offensive outburst for the Bulldogs. The native of Johnston, Iowa, now has 16 goals on the year, putting her fifth among GPAC players. Freshman Rachael Bolin and Skerston are next in line on the team with nine goals apiece.
  • The three winningest seasons in program history have all come over the past three years. Concordia’s 12 victories equal the 2014 squad for the most ever by a Bulldog team during the regular season. The ’14 team went on to go 15-3-4. That mark was followed by a 13-6-2 record in 2015. That leaves Concordia with a combined three-year record of 40-14-7. One more victory would give the senior class 50 wins since arriving in 2013.
  • Additional goals last week came from Bolin at Doane and from Maria Deeter and Esther Soenksen at Dakota Wesleyan. Concordia now has five players with six or more goals this season: Birmingham (16), Bolin (9), Skerston (9), Soenksen (7) and Deeter (6). Soenksen owns a team best nine assists. Birmingham and Bolin have both recorded eight assists.
  • It’s now tournament time for Concordia, which has advanced to at least the GPAC semifinals each of the last three years. Officially, the Bulldogs are 4-2-2 in conference tournament games under Henson. However, both ties resulted in penalty kick shootout wins for Concordia. Last season the Bulldogs stunned Hastings by advancing on PK’s, 5-3, after the two sides had played to a 1-1 draw. As the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament, Concordia draws sixth-seeded Briar Cliff (9-7-1, 5-5 GPAC) in a GPAC quarterfinal game set for today (Nov. 1) at 7 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs defeated Briar Cliff, 3-0, in Seward on Oct. 22. The winner will advance to the semifinals and play either second-seeded Midland (14-4, 8-2 GPAC) or seventh-seeded College of Saint Mary (7-11, 4-6) on Saturday.

Volleyball

  • Last week was exactly what the Bulldogs needed after dropping six matches in a row between Oct. 5-19. Concordia won each of last week’s three contests while taking nine of 12 sets played in triumphs over College of Saint Mary, Central Christian College (Kan.) and Dakota Wesleyan. Fifth-year head coach Scott Mattera’s squad put together an offensive display on Oct. 29, when it hit .386 and .312 as part of a two-match day. The Bulldogs currently reside in seventh place with and are 14-16 overall and 5-8 in conference play. For more information on the Concordia volleyball program, click HERE.
  • The win over Dakota Wesleyan was spurred by a number of career best individual performances. New personal standards were set by seniors Tiegen Skains (26 kills), Paige Getz (24 kills) and Alayna Kavanaugh (76 assists) and by junior Jocelyn Garcia (32 digs). Over the two Saturday matches Getz and Skains combined for a total of 71 kills. Behind their offensive prowess, Concordia burned Dakota Wesleyan with 82 kills in the match.
  • Kavanaugh’s 76 assists rank as the highest single-match assist total for any NAIA player in the country this season. That figure is also the most for any NAIA setter since at least 2014. With 949 assists this season, the Lincoln Christian High School product is knocking on the door of a third-straight year of more than 1,000. She’s ran her career total to 4,335 assists over 441 sets played. She currently ranks 27th nationally in assists per game (10.1).
  • It was an exceptionally big week for Skains, who hit .402 and amassed 52 kills over 12 sets of action. She needed just 17 swings to rack up 13 kills in the straight-sets win over Central Christian. With 276 kills on the year, the native of Colorado Springs is on the brink of surpassing her career high of 279 from last season. She also has career bests this season in terms of kills per game (2.76) and hitting percentage (.236). Her career kill total stands at 817.
  • Despite what’s been a season of frustration at times, Concordia has held up well at home. The Bulldogs are now 10-4 inside Walz Arena this season. The current class of seniors, now 77-51 overall in four years at Concordia, has helped the Bulldogs produce a home mark of 40-16 since the start of the 2013 season. The Bulldogs are 32-11 at home over the past three seasons.
  • With three matches remaining in the regular season, Getz will continue her pursuit of current assistant coach Rachel (Kirchner) Miller on the program’s all-time kills list. Getz totaled 43 kills last week, pushing her to 1,283 for her career. She needs 33 more kills to pass Miller (1,315) for the third most kills in school history. A consistent performer, Getz has gone over 300 kills every year as a Bulldog.
  • Senior middle Taylor Workman also sizzled last week. She put down 25 kills on just 49 swings. Like Getz and Skains, she enjoyed a big performance in the win over Dakota Wesleyan. The Lincoln native hit .536 while mashing 16 kills to help lift the Bulldogs to victory. That effort allowed Workman to surpass 200 kills for the second year in a row.
  • The victory over Dakota Wesleyan was crucial in terms of GPAC positioning. The Bulldogs have now locked up a spot in the eight-team conference tournament that will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Thanks to head-to-head wins, Concordia owns tiebreakers over each of the three teams directly behind it in the GPAC standings. The Bulldogs will either be the sixth, seventh or eighth seed. Seeding will be ironed out this week as Concordia closes the regular season with three matches: Wednesday versus No. 2 Hastings (22-2, 13-1 GPAC) at 7:30 p.m., Friday at Mount Marty (7-21, 0-14 GPAC) at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at Morningside (18-11, 7-7 GPAC) at 3 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

  • The regular season is in the books for Concordia, which clinched the GPAC’s No. 3 seed last week by coming from behind to win at Doane, 3-2, on Oct. 26. Though it was a disappointing finish (2-1 loss at Dakota Wesleyan on Oct. 29), the Bulldogs have claimed their highest conference regular-season finish in more than a decade. Ninth-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad will enter the postseason with an overall record of 9-6-2 and conference mark of 6-3. For more information on Bulldog men’s soccer, click HERE.
  • Last week’s victory in Crete sewed up the sixth-straight season with an above .500 overall record for Weides’ program. The longest previous streak of winning seasons was orchestrated by Jack Kinworthy between 1984 and 1988. During the current six-year run under Weides, Concordia is a combined 62-41-12. The Bulldogs still need one more win to post their sixth-consecutive year of 10 or more wins. Another victory would also mark the 80th of Weides’ coaching career.
  • Prior to last week, freshman Alex Grocott had yet to score this season. That changed when he banked an equalizing goal in the 44th minute to help spur the win at Doane. He also knocked in Concordia’s lone goal of the loss at Dakota Wesleyan. In addition, he assisted on Micah Lehenbauer’s goal at Doane. Grocott is a native of Darlington, England.
  • In terms of stringing results together, Concordia’s season has had little flow to it. With the win at Doane, the Bulldogs collected back-to-back victories for the first time all season. On the plus side, Concordia followed each of its first five losses of the season with a win. Despite the loss at Dakota Wesleyan, the Bulldogs own an impressive mark of 10-3-2 over their last 15 games against conference opponents. The defeat to Dakota Wesleyan was the first during that stretch that Concordia fell to an unranked foe.
  • The Bulldogs have now gone four-straight games without recording a shutout since the 3-0 win at Dordt on Oct. 15. After conceding four goals last week, Concordia is now sitting at an average of exactly one goal allowed per game. That average ranks third best in the GPAC and 33rd among all NAIA programs. The Bulldogs began the year by surrendering just a single goal over the season’s first five outings.
  • Lehenbauer enters the postseason with a team high eight goals. He’s followed by senior Marcelo Hernandez (6) and freshman Carlos Ferrer (5) on the team’s list of top goal scorers. Ferrer has also added four assists. As a team, Concordia has totaled 36 goals compared to 17 by its opponents.
  • Prior to postseason play, Weides has used 17 different players in his starting lineups throughout this season. Only three players have started all 17 games: Florian Caraballo, Mark Horsburgh and Lehenbauer. Horsburgh has missed only one game over the past two seasons since taking over the starting goalkeeper role. Lehenbauer, a native of Kathleen, Ga., made 11 starts last season as a sophomore.
  • Concordia now looks forward to Thursday’s GPAC tournament quarterfinal home game with sixth-seeded Northwestern (7-11, 4-5 GPAC) at 7 p.m. In the regular-season matchup, the Bulldogs got a golden goal from Hernandez to defeat the Red Raiders in overtime on Sept. 24. Concordia has enjoyed postseason success in recent years, advancing to the semifinals in 2014 before its thrilling GPAC tournament title run last season. Should the Bulldogs defeat Northwestern, they would advance to play either second-seeded Midland (15-2-1, 8-1 GPAC) or seventh-seeded Briar Cliff (9-8, 3-6 GPAC) in the semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Football

  • Concordia has been idle since its 20-14 win over Midland on Oct. 22. The Bulldogs had a rare late-season bye this past week. With two games remaining in the regular season, eighth-year head coach Vance Winter’s squad stands at 5-3 overall and 3-3 in conference play. Concordia currently sits in fifth place. Mathematically, it could still finish as high as a tie for second. For more information on Bulldog football, click HERE.
  • For the second-straight week, Concordia checked in at No. 21 in the NAIA national coaches’ poll. The Bulldogs have garnered six national rankings this season out of nine polls, including the preseason edition. Concordia has appeared as high as No. 16 in 2016. They vaulted up to that position thanks to a 3-0 start. During head coach Vance Winter’s tenure, Concordia has garnered a total of 14 national rankings, rising as high as 14th in 2013
  • Following the bye week, the Bulldogs moved up to No. 9 nationally in terms of total defense (310.4). On the NAIA national leaderboard, Concordia also ranks 16th in punting average (39.3), 16th in rushing defense (128.0), 18th in yards per punt return (12.6), 23rd in pass defense (182.4) and 26th in scoring defense (23.1). On the NAIA individual lists, Trey Barnes ranks sixth in tackles for loss per game (1.9) while Michael Hedlund ranks eighth in tackles per game (11.6).
  • Hedlund, a senior linebacker, added eight tackles in the win over Midland, giving him 247 for his career. That total pushed him past Ben Klein (246 tackles) for the most tackles for Bulldogs that have played during Winter’s head coaching tenure. Hedlund needs seven more tackles to register his second-straight 100-tackle season. He would be the only Concordia player in the GPAC era (2000-present) to post more than one 100-tackle season. The program’s single-season GPAC era tackle record is 110 by linebacker Erik DeHaven in 2001.
  • Junior receiver Jared Garcia moved up from third to second on Concordia’s all-time career receiving yards in the team’s most recent outing by passing Eric Pralle (1,974). Garcia caught eight passes for 102 yards versus Midland, pushing him to 2,054 receiving yards for his career. Former All-American tight end Ross Wurdeman (2,458 yards) is the only other player in program history to reach 2,000. Garcia already owns school records for touchdown catches in a single season (11) and for a career (28).
  • The Bulldogs will return to action on Saturday for a date in Sioux Center, Iowa, with Dordt (4-5, 2-5 GPAC). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. The Defenders are an improved team and have broken the school record for most wins in school history for a program that started in 2008. Concordia is 7-1 all-time versus Dordt. The Defenders are coming off a 59-21 loss at No. 8 Doane last week. Dordt is led by running back Bryce Lidtka, who ranks second nationally with 1,349 rushing yards. In the passing game, Jason Miller sits No. 2 in the NAIA in receiving yards (1,145).

Cross Country

  • The stretch run has arrived for the Bulldogs, who are now four days away from the 2016 GPAC Cross Country Championships. Concordia had last week off following their trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the Seminole Valley Stampede on Oct. 22. At Seminole Valley Park, the Concordia women placed fifth and men 12th. Twenty-five teams competed on both sides. For more on Concordia cross country, click HERE.
  • A total of 14 men have competed at the season’s first four official meets for Concordia. Twelve of them have competed in all four races. Junior Patrick Wortmann has turned in the team’s top finish in three of those four outings. He topped the Bulldogs with a 33rd place finish at Seminole Valley Park. For the most part, Concordia’s top five throughout the year has included Wortmann, Kohlton Gabehart, Thomas Taylor, Chris Shelton and Evan Asche (did not run in Cedar Rapids). The top seven finishers at the Seminole Valley Stampede accounted for Concordia’s team score of 329. Below is a list of every time turned in this season by each of the team’s men’s runners.
    • Patrick Wortmann – 27:11.67 (4th) – 27:54.89 (6th) – 27:01.00 (40th) – 26:19 (33rd)
    • Kohlton Gabehart – 27:13.09 (5th) – 28:02.63 (9th) – 26:50.50 (33rd) – 27:30 (91st)
    • Thomas Taylor – 27:47.12 (11th) – 28:39.15 (14th) – 26:51.48 (35th) – 26:50 (53rd)
    • Chris Shelton – 28:00.88 (13th) – 28:49.86 (15th) – 27:52.96 (74th) – 27:25 (88th)
    • Evan Asche – 28:03.40 (14th) – 28:31.17 (12th) – 27:35.76 (56th) – DNR
    • Cameron Moes – 28:48.25 (17th) – 30:59.62 (34th) – 27:52.50 (73rd) – 27:37 (95th)
    • Josiah McAllister – 29:23.70 (23rd) – 30:09.52 (25th) – 28:19.43 (85th) – 27:41 (99th)
    • Robbie Peterson – 30:53.21 (33rd) – 33:02.47 (50th) – 31:24.62 (137th) – 31:26 (209th)
    • Nathan Matters – 31:48.77 (41st) – 33:30.19 (51st) – 31:54.31 (142nd) – 30:46 (199th)
    • Samuel Ferguson – 31:50.10 (42nd) – 32:16.66 (44th) – 30:37.19 (133rd) – 31:24 (208th)
    • Chris Warneke – 32:56.31 (47th) – 34:55.78 (57th) – 34:32.89 (152nd) – 32:57 (225th)
    • Christian Egger – 34:17.84 (53rd) – 33:47.76 (54th) – 32:34.84 (146th) – 32:47 (223rd)
    • Isaac Golke – 37:41.63 (56th) – 39:11.76 (62nd) – 35:08.03 (153rd) – 34:26 (233rd)
    • John Vecera – DNR – DNR – 36:43.17 (156th) – 34:33 (234th)
  • The Bulldog women have had a total of 13 runners represent them over the first four races. Their finishes for those races are listed below. Junior Emily Sievert shined at the Seminole Valley Stampede, placing fifth amongst the field of 216 runners with her season best time of 18:32. That put her roughly 20 seconds off of an all-time personal best. Sievert has been the team’s top runner at three of four meets in 2016. Taylor Grove’s 25th-place claim was best for the Bulldogs at the Briar Cliff Invite on Oct. 8. Running for the second time as a Bulldog, University of Nebraska-Kearney transfer Shelbi Hackbart came in next in line with a time of 19:36 at Seminole Valley Park. Concordia finished fifth as a team despite not having the services of senior Marti Vlasin, who will be back for the GPAC championships.
    • Emily Sievert – 19:11.88 (3rd) – 20:25.49 (8th) – 19:05.34 (38th) – 18:32 (5th)
    • Taylor Grove – 20:00.59 (9th) – 20:32.09 (9th) – 18:53.56 (25th) – 19:42 (38th)
    • Shelbi Hackbart – DNR – DNR – 19:32.26 (54th) – 19:36 (35th)
    • Marti Vlasin – 20:16.92 (11th) – 21:16.72 (15th) – 19:55.31 (62nd) – DNR
    • Abby Protzman – 20:29.63 (13th) – 21:28.19 (18th) – 20:09.06 (72nd) – 20:03 (58th)
    • Rebekah Hinrichs – 20:44.16 (16th) – 22:10.00 (27th) – 20:15.62 (75th) – 20:08 (63rd)
    • Jacy Johnston – 20:47.48 (17th) – 21:38.82 (20th) – 19:58.72 (65th) – 20:10 (64th)
    • Erin Lindeman – 21:50.88 (29th) – 21:55.51 (22nd) – 21:20.20 (103rd) – 22:05 (150th)
    • Miranda Rathjen – 22:39.80 (36th) – 23:11.36 (32nd) – 21:29.88 (110th) – 22:08 (152nd)
    • Paige Borcherding – 22:58.25 (43rd) – 24:11.43 (42nd) – 22:48.04 (140th) – 23:29 (182nd)
    • Emily Writebol – 23:23.16 (45th) – 24:26.57 (45th) – 21:59.29 (124th) – 21:48 (140th)
    • Emily Wetzel – 24:09.51 (54th) – 23:26.02 (36th) – 22:32.64 (134th) – 22:43 (170th)
    • Liliana Barrientos – DNR – 27:21.86 (57th) – 25:05.29 (161st) – 25:34 (198th)
  • The GPAC championships will be held on the same course that Concordia ran at the Bronco Stampede on Sept. 17. The Bulldog men placed second out of six teams and the women were third among seven squads at the Bronco Stampede. Should any Concordia teams or individuals qualify, they would then look forward to the NAIA Cross Country National Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19. Nationals will take place at North Farm Course in Elsah, Ill.
  • Based on the official GPAC ratings published on NAIA.org, Concordia is expected to finish sixth in the conference on both sides. The top five in the GPAC men’s ratings are Northwestern, Dordt, Morningside, Doane and Midland. The top five on the women’s side are Dordt, Morningside, Hastings, Doane and Northwestern. Last season the Bulldogs finished fourth (men) and fifth (women) in the GPAC. The most recent conference titles for the program came in 2012 for the men and 2005 for the women.

Women’s Basketball

  • The 2016-17 opened in Denver over the weekend for the 14th-ranked Bulldogs. After falling, 72-64, in a showdown with defending national champion and top-ranked Marian University (Ind.) on Oct. 28, Concordia rebounded the next day by drilling host Johnson & Wales University (Colo.), 89-40. The Bulldogs flustered the Wildcats into 38 turnovers while evening up their record at 1-1. Concordia enters the season seeking a sixth-straight national tournament berth under the direction of 11th-year head coach Drew Olson. For more information on Bulldog women’s basketball, click HERE.
  • Olson used the same starting lineup for both of last week’s games. The backcourt included Midland transfer Dani Andersen, junior Mary Janovich and senior Laurel Krohn along with the frontcourt duo of sophomore Quinn Wragge and freshman Philomena Lammers. Andersen and Lammers were two of three players to make their debuts as Bulldogs. The other was freshman Colby Duvel. Olson substituted frequently in Denver, using 12 players for an average of 10 minutes or more per game.
  • Over the two games in Denver, Lammers topped the team in points (25), rebounds (15) and blocked shots (3). The 5-foot-11 freshman out of Omaha will team with Wragge for a formidable inside tandem. Lammers starred for Millard West High School, which she led to a state runner-up finish as a senior. She averaged 11.9 points and 8.2 rebounds in her final season at Millard West and left as the school’s record holder for field goal percentage.
  • Wragge got the most minutes on the weekend. She played 29 minutes versus Marian and put up 17 points, five rebounds and two steals. The Crofton, Neb., native garnered first team all-conference recognition during her stellar freshman campaign that saw her average 14.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals. She proved she was ready for the big stage last season when she registered 24 points and 10 rebounds in the national tournament loss to Goshen College (Ind.).
  • After going 1-for-5 from the field in 22 minutes of action versus Marian, Andersen got comfortable in the win over Johnson & Wales. She went 4-for-7 from 3-point range and equaled Aubri Bro with a game high 15 points in the weekend capper. Andersen played in 61 games over her two seasons at Midland. As a sophomore in 2014-15, she averaged 9.0 points while connecting on 62-of-182 (.341) attempts from beyond the arc.
  • This marks the ninth-consecutive year that Olson’s program has garnered a preseason national ranking. The Bulldogs earned top-25 rankings in all 13 polls during the 2015-16 campaign. They peaked at the No. 4 position. During Olson’s first 10 years as head coach, Concordia has ended a season in the rankings seven times. In five of those instances the Bulldogs were placed inside the top 10. Their highest finishes were second and third, respectively. Concordia has an active poll streak of 67-straight national rankings dating back to the 2011-12 preseason poll.
  • Including Andersen, the Bulldogs have brought back 11 varsity players that were in the program during the 2015-16 season. The lone starter that Concordia has replaced is Becky Mueller, a 1,000-point scorer who graduated this past May. The group of returners also includes the likes of Brenleigh Daum and Shelby Quinn, who made a combined 54 starts last season. Devin Edwards, Sydney Feller and Erin Vieselmeyer have also started games in their careers.
  • The Bulldogs will make their home debut this weekend at the Cattle Classic. Concordia hosts Friends University (Kan.) (0-0) at 6 p.m. on Friday. Then on Saturday, Oklahoma Wesleyan University (1-1) will serve as the opponent for a 3 p.m. tipoff. The Bulldogs have been especially tough at home. They are a combined 70-9 (.886) in home games since the start of the 2011-12 season.

Men’s Basketball

  • A new season opened last week as Concordia made its way to Denver. The Bulldogs rallied from an 11-point second half deficit to defeat Dickinson State University (N.D.), 73-66, on Oct. 28. The next day Concordia dropped an 82-81 nailbiter to host Johnson & Wales University. The opener marked the third-straight year in which head coach Ben Limback’s program won the season’s first game. The Bulldogs went on a late 26-8 run to sink Dickinson State. For more information on Concordia men’s basketball, click HERE.
  • The 2016-17 starting lineup has received a makeover after the departures of guards Micah Kohlwey and Jamie Pearson and wing Robby Thomas. Limback’s starting lineup over the weekend featured a backcourt of Chris Johnstone, Eli Ziegler and Seth Curran and frontcourt of Chandler Folkerts and Kyle Pierce. In his career as a Bulldog, Folkerts has started 92 of a possible 93 games. Ziegler’s 53 starts are second most on the team. On the other hand, Curran, Johnstone and Pierce each made their first career starts last week.
  • Ziegler emerged from Denver as the team’s leading scorer after posting point totals of 13 and 20, respectively. The native of Littleton, Colo., attempted the most shots while going 10-for-22 (.455) from the field and 5-for-16 (.313) from 3-point range. Folkerts, a two-time first team all-conference performer, averaged 15.0 points and 7.5 rebounds over the season’s first two games. Folkerts (19 points and eight rebounds) just missed a double-double against Johnson & Wales. On the strength of a career high 15 points in the win over Dickinson State, Curran is averaging 11.0 points per game.
  • Folkerts’ 30 points on the weekend allowed him to move from 10th to eighth on the program’s list of all-time leading scorers. Now with 1,427 career points, Folkerts passed up Scott Ernstmeyer (1,417) and Scott Beck (1,406). Folkerts is also closing in on the current No. 7 on the list – Ben Buhr (1,479). It will take a monster season for Folkerts to climb to the very top of the list. Jon Ziegler, a 2007 graduate, holds down the No. 1 spot with 2,099 career points. Additionally, Folkerts ranks seventh in program history for blocked shots (100) and ninth in rebounds (633).
  • Seward native Brevin Sloup was ultra-productive in 20 minutes of play over the weekend. The freshman guard came off the bench to deliver five points and two assists in eight minutes versus Dickinson State and then 11 points, four assists and four rebounds in 12 minutes against Johnson & Wales. Sloup showed off a nice outside shooting touch while making 3-of-6 shots from beyond the arc. He left Seward High School as the program’s all-time leading scorer (1,179 points).
  • Sloup stood out amongst a large group of newcomers. While Johnstone is the only new face in the starting lineup, five Bulldogs came off the bench to make their debuts in Concordia blue. That list includes freshmen Cordell Gillingham, Jake Hornick, Clay Reimers and Tanner Shuck. Among them, Shuck saw the most action in Denver. He averaged 21.5 minutes, 6.0 points and 2.0 assists while making four of the seven shots he fired. Johnstone averaged 8.0 points and 2.0 rebounds.
  • Coming off a sixth-place GPAC finish in 2015-16, Concordia was pegged by league coaches to finish eighth, according to the preseason poll. GPAC coaches placed Doane ninth and Mount Marty 10th in a conference that now has 10 men’s basketball programs after the departure of Nebraska Wesleyan. Defending GPAC champion Briar Cliff topped the poll.
  • The 17th annual Cattle Classic is the only thing showing on this week’s schedule. The Bulldogs will play Waldorf University (Iowa) (0-1) at 8 p.m. on Friday before taking on Oklahoma Wesleyan (1-1) at 5 p.m. on Saturday. They will be the final tune ups before conference play begins Nov. 9 with a trip to Northwestern.