Bulldog Weekly Report (Nov. 14)

By Anna Royuk on Nov. 14, 2020 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Devers, a native of Holly Springs, N.C., took third place in his 141-pound bracket at last week’s Grand View University Open. Devers went 4-1 with a pin on the day while pushing his season record to 8-1. Devers was also a 141-pound champion at the season-opening Dan Harris Open.

Female: Jeannelle Condame, Soccer

Condame, who hails from Winter Springs, Fla., completed an impressive four-year run by helping lead the women’s soccer program to the GPAC tournament championship game for the fourth year in a row. Condame assisted on both goals in last week’s 2-1 semifinal win over Northwestern. She now shares the program record for most career games played (84).

Previous athletes of the week
Nov. 7 – Tarence Roby (football) / Emily Deschaine (cross country)
Oct. 31 – Ryan Durdon (football) / Kaitlyn Radebaugh (soccer)
Oct. 24 – Marcelo Hernandez (soccer) / Lindsey Carley (soccer)
Oct. 17 – Carlos Ferrer (soccer) and Grady Koch (football) / Sami Birmingham (soccer)
Oct. 10 – Micah Lehenbauer (soccer) / Kaitlyn Radebaugh (soccer)
Oct. 3 – Micah Lehenbauer (soccer) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
September Athletes of the Month: Tarence Roby (football) / Lindsey Carley (soccer)
Sept. 26 – Kordell Glause (football) / Emily Deschaine (cross country)
Sept. 19 – Lewis Rathbone (soccer) / Victoria Cera (soccer)
Sept. 12 – Tarence Roby (football) / Murphy Sears (golf)
Sept. 5 – Jack Bennett (soccer) / Lindsey Carley (soccer)

News and notes:

Sister act: Concordia provided the right place for twin sisters Ashley and Lauren Martin to reunite after spending their first year of college apart. The duo helped the Concordia women’s soccer program capture a GPAC regular-season title and reach the conference tournament championship game for the fourth season in a row. For more on the Martin sisters, click HERE.

All-GPAC week: The GPAC has already made announcements this week for all-conference soccer and football teams. Between those three squads, 31 Bulldogs collected some form of All-GPAC recognition. The GPAC regular-season women’s soccer team pulled in a couple of major awards with Lindsey Carley earning GPAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades and Greg Henson taking GPAC Coach of the Year honors. Volleyball honors are set to be released on Wednesday. For all-conference coverage, click the links below.
-Football
-Men’s Soccer
-Women’s Soccer

Seward County Appreciation Next Tuesday (Nov. 21): Next week is Thanksgiving break on the Concordia campus. With that in mind, the athletic department has declared a Seward County Appreciation Night for next Tuesday’s (Nov. 21) home basketball games versus Mount Marty (tipoff times at 6 and 8 p.m. CT). No admission will be charged.

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is underway in its third 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 2017-18 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 again calling volleyball action.

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.

Football

The Bulldogs found out what every GPAC team had learned throughout the 2017 season: that Morningside is a cut above. The third-ranked Mustangs dealt Concordia a 35-0 defeat in last week’s season finale inside Bulldog Stadium. The Bulldogs were outgained, 508-149, and picked up only 10 first downs. Concordia finished the season at 6-4 overall and placed third in the conference with a 5-3 GPAC mark. For more information on Bulldog football, click HERE.
The group of four-year seniors that began their collegiate careers in the fall of 2014 helped the program to a combined record of 24-17. The high water mark for wins during that span occurred last season when Concordia went 7-3 and finished ranked 19th in the national poll. The Bulldogs were likely one more win away from securing a second top 25 finish in a row. They were 25th entering the Morningside game, but fell out of the rankings after the defeat.
Accomplished senior receiver Jared Garcia was shut out in his final college game. However, he will leave Concordia with program career records for receiving yards (2,495) and receiving touchdowns (35) and with the single-season standard for touchdown grabs (11). The native of Pearland, Texas, finished seven catches short of Ross Wurdeman’s school record 168 career receptions. Garcia collected first team all-conference accolades as both a sophomore and junior.
The star-studded senior class also includes defensive backs D’Mauria Martin and Tarence Roby. Both seem like safe bets for first team all-conference honors and to garner consideration for All-America awards. Martin (eight pass breakups, five interceptions) and Roby (seven pass breakups, four interceptions) combined for 24 passes defensed this season. Martin, who converted from corner to safety this season, ranked second on the team with 52 tackles. Roby also served as one of the nation’s top return men, ranking eighth nationally in yards per punt return (10.4) and 11th in the NAIA in yards per kick return (28.7).
Sophomore running back Ryan Durdon entered last week needing 18 yards to break the program’s single-season rushing record of 1,265 by JaMaine Lewis in 2007. Durdon never got there while playing through injury against a stout defensive front. He finished his season with 1,247 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 227 carries. His average of 124.7 rushing yards per game ranked 10th nationally. Durdon also caught 15 passes for 82 yards this season.
Freshman Lane Napier really settled into his role as a starting inside linebacker. He registered double digit tackle totals in each of the last four games of the season. His 17 stops versus Morningside equaled a career high and pushed his season tackle count to a team high 97. In the Morningside defeat, the David City, Neb., native also forced a fumble and recorded a stop in the backfield. Napier was named the GPAC defensive player of the week on Oct. 30.
The loss to Morningside snapped a 10-game home win streak for the Bulldogs. The most recent home defeat prior to last week also came against the Mustangs, back on Oct. 31, 2015. Between home losses, Concordia defeated eight conference opponents and two foes from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. The 2016 squad was the first go be perfect at home (5-0) since the 2000 season. Home victories this season came over Ottawa University (Kan.), then No. 7 Doane, Midland and Dakota Wesleyan.
The program has now produced winning seasons three years in a row and in four of the past five years. Not since 1979-83 had Concordia recorded four winning seasons in a five-year stretch. The Bulldogs are now 31-21 since the start of the 2013 campaign. The ’79 through ’83 teams were an impressive 35-15. A similar five-year period of success came again from 1999 through 2003 when the Bulldogs were a combined 32-20. That run included a 10-2 mark, a GPAC title and a playoff appearance in 2001.
Daberkow and the program honored a group of 23 seniors prior to last week’s kickoff. Of the players listed in last week’s starting two deep, 13 are seniors. The offensive line and secondary will be gutted the most. Four of the five starters on the offensive line and three of four starters in the defensive backfield are seniors.

Women’s Soccer

Another march to the GPAC tournament final ended in heartbreak last week (Nov. 10) when the Bulldogs lost a penalty kick shootout, 3-2, at the hands of rival Hastings. The shootout followed 110 minutes of scoreless soccer. Concordia had proceeded to the conference championship game by claiming 2-1 wins over Morningside (Nov. 2) and Northwestern (Nov. 7) as part of the postseason tournament. The 21st-ranked Bulldogs did not receive an at-large bid to nationals, leaving them with a final overall record of 15-2-4. For more information on Concordia women’s soccer, click HERE.
Fifth-year head coach Greg Henson collected an overdue honor on Monday when the conference named him the GPAC coach of the year. The 2017 team went 9-0-1 in the GPAC and captured an outright regular-season title for the first time in program history. Over the past four seasons, Henson has guided the program to four GPAC title game appearances, three conference championships (two postseason, one regular season), two national tournament berths and 60 combined victories.
Also announced on Monday, sophomore Lindsey Carley garnered the GPAC Defensive Player of the Year award, something that would have been difficult to forecast prior to the season. A native of Urbandale, Iowa, Carley solidified the goalkeeper position after the departure of school record breaking keeper Chrissy Lind. Carley ranked ninth nationally in goals against average (0.490) while posting a save percentage of .909. She totaled 80 saves and seven shutouts as a starter for 17 games.
The senior class that included the likes of Jeannelle Condame, Leah Shohat and Esther Soenksen will leave as the winningest class in program history. They helped the Bulldogs go a collective 60-16-10 since the start of the 2014 season. Condame and Soenksen currently share the program record for most career games played (84). A product of Lincoln Lutheran High School, Soenksen recorded 31 goals and 23 assists in her career. Condame contributed 14 goals and 17 assists during her four-year run.
Freshman Chelsea Bright and junior captain Maria Deeter joined Carley with first team all-conference accolades. After being named second team All-GPAC as a freshman, Deeter has raked in first team honors in back-to-back seasons. She put up career bests of 10 goals and 10 assists, leading the squad in both categories this season. Meanwhile, Bright started all 21 games as a rookie center back and helped Concordia rank 15th nationally in goals against average.
Over the past four seasons, the Bulldogs are an impressive 9-2-2 in GPAC postseason games. Included in that ledger is a 6-0-1 home mark. Last week’s contest with Hastings officially goes in the books as a draw. Concordia has not far off winning GPAC tournament titles all four seasons. The 2014 and 2016 squads both won championships while the 2015 and 2017 teams came up agonizingly short.
The 2017 team broke the program record for fewest goals allowed in a season. The 14 goals it surrendered just edged the previous standard of 15 given up by the 2015 group. This year’s Bulldog squad scored 56 goals, putting their goal differential at 42. That figure ranks third best in school history behind the 2016 (+47) and 2004 (+44) teams. Four of the top five seasons, in terms of goal differential, have come over the last four years.
The future looks bright for a program that Henson has built into a consistent winner. Of the 15 players that saw action in the GPAC championship game, just three are seniors. Henson may just have his most talented team yet with Deeter leading the way in her final season as a Bulldog. Next year’s senior class will also feature starters in the Martin twins, Ashley and Lauren, and Taylor Roby.

Men’s Soccer

A standard setting season has come to an end for Concordia. The Bulldogs came up one win shy of extending their season into this weekend’s opening round of the national tournament. While making its third-straight appearance in the GPAC tournament championship game, Concordia dropped a 2-1 decision to seventh-ranked Hastings on Nov. 9. Tenth-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad advanced to the final thanks to postseason wins over Briar Cliff, 1-0, and Northwestern, 2-1. The Bulldogs ended up with an overall mark of 16-3-1. For more information on Concordia men’s soccer, click HERE.
The fortunes of the program have been on the rise for several years now. The 2011 team made a big jump by going 11-5-3 just one season after a 7-10-2 campaign in 2010. Since the start of that 2011 season, the Bulldogs have gone a combined 80-45-13 with at least 10 victories each year. The 16 wins this season shattered the previous school record of 12 by the 2000 team that featured Weides as a junior defender. Weides has guided four separate squads to 11-win seasons.
Four-year seniors such as Toby Down and Micah Lehenbauer helped the program to a combined mark of 48-23-12 for the winningest four-year stretch in program history. The run included advancements to at least the conference semifinals each year and a GPAC tournament title in 2015. In GPAC postseason games, Concordia has a collective record of 7-3-1 since the start of the 2014 season. In the instance of the one tie, the Bulldogs advanced after winning a penalty kick shootout at Midland in 2015.
Looking beyond just sheer number of wins, the 2017 squad is clearly the most dominant team of the Weides era. It produced a goal differential of +35 (51 goals scored, 16 goals allowed) on its way to 16 victories. The previous best for a Weides coached team was the +25 differential registered by the 2011 group. Concordia has had a positive differential in eight of Weides’ 10 seasons, including figures of +18 in 2015 and +19 in 2016.
As announced on Monday, seniors Florian Caraballo and Marcelo Hernandez have repeated as first team all-conference selections. One of the top defenders in the GPAC, Caraballo collected two conference defensive player of the week awards this season and also contributed heavily offensively, handing out six assists. Meanwhile, Hernandez delivered 11 goals and 10 assists as one of the conference’s top attacking threats. Senior Micah Lehenbauer also joined Caraballo and Hernandez with first team accolades.
It was a tight race this season for the title of team leading goal scorer. Lehenbauer and Rathbone wound up sharing that title with 12 goals apiece. Hernandez finished just one off that total. All three players finished inside the top six of the GPAC for goals scored. As a team, Concordia ranked third in the conference in goals scored per game (2.55). Remarkably, the Bulldogs were not shut out even once all year.
Concordia appears to be in solid position to receive votes in the postseason coaches’ top 25 poll when it is released on Dec. 6. The Bulldogs moved up last week to third among “others receiving votes,” essentially ranking 28th nationally. All three of Concordia’s losses came by margins of just one goal, with two defeats dealt by seventh-ranked Hastings. The Bulldogs own the nation’s 11th best winning percentage (.825) and are tied for the fifth most victories of any NAIA men’s soccer program.
Weides and his staff will be tasked with replacing a star-studded senior class. That group accounted for six of the team’s starters in last week’s GPAC championship game. Of the squad’s eight all-conference honorees, four are seniors. Headlining returners for next season will include defender Angel Alvarez, goalkeeper Jack Bennett, forward Carlos Ferrer and midfielder Kevin Sanchez. Weides also expects a lot from Corona, Calif., freshman Garrett Perry.

Women’s Basketball

The third-ranked Bulldogs navigated a challenging weekend trip to North Dakota and remained undefeated on the young season. Concordia first rallied for a 91-83 overtime win at No. 9 University of Jamestown on Nov. 10. A day later, the Bulldogs cruised to a 93-58 victory over Mayville State University. High-powered Concordia has yet to score fewer than 91 points in any of its four games. Tenth-year head coach Drew Olson’s squad is now 4-0. For more information on Bulldog women’s basketball, click HERE.
One reason for the team’s success thus far is the way in which it has buried teams from the 3-point line. Concordia is 52-for-138 (.377) from beyond the arc while its opponents are 22-for-74 (.297) on 3-point attempts. Though its early, the Bulldogs sport national rankings of second in 3-point field goals per game (13.0), third in scoring (95.3) and fifth in scoring margin (+32.5). Concordia nailed 16 treys at Mayville State in a game that got out of hand quickly.
The early-season résumé is impressive. The Bulldogs have already defeated two teams ranked in the top 10 of the national poll – No. 5 University of St. Francis (Ill.) and No. 9 Jamestown – and a team just outside the preseason top 25 (Mayville State). Though St. Francis stumbled to an 0-2 start at the Cattle Classic, it rebounded last week with a 71-60 upset of top-ranked Marian University, the 2016 and 2017 national champion. Concordia also has nonconference games lined up with No. 2 Saint Xavier University (Ill.) and No. 6 College of the Ozarks (Mo.).
An All-American last season as a freshman, Philly Lammers showed she could handle a heavy workload in last week’s comeback win at Jamestown. While playing 40 minutes, the Omaha native posted career highs of 31 points and 14 rebounds while going 14-for-24 (.583) from the field. Lammers is now averaging 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds this season. In an impressive start to her career, Lammers has already piled up 547 points and 302 rebounds in 41 college games.
The hot start from the 3-point line has been fueled by the likes of Taylor Cockerill, Brenleigh Daum, Sydney Feller and Dani Hoppes. Each has made at least six 3-point field goals. Feller has connected on 10 of her first 17 attempts from beyond the arc. Cockerill, Feller and Hoppes all own 3-point field goal percentages of better than 40. Daum has never been hesitant to pull the trigger from long range. She’s made 12-of-36 shots from 3-point range this season. Only six of her field goal attempts have come inside the arc.
In a fashion typical of an Olson-coached team, Concordia has employed 11 different players for averages of at least 10 minutes per game so far this season. Four Bulldogs are averaging more than 20 minutes per outing: Quinn Wragge (23.5), Lammers (23.3), Cockerill (22.0) and Hoppes (21.0). Concordia is still without reigning GPAC defensive player of the week Mary Janovich. The liberal substitutions have also been a product of having three blowout victories. The Bulldogs have started fast this season, outscoring opponents by a combined total of 206-108 in the first half.
It will be a weekly watch for several players with a shot at joining the program’s 1,000-point club. Wragge is drawing especially close, entering this week with 951 points since beginning her Bulldog career in 2015-16. The next closest are Janovich (890), Hoppes (815), Daum (682) and Lammers (547). Hoppes totaled 436 of her points as a member of the Midland program (2013-15).
Conference play has already arrived. Concordia will host Midland (3-2) at 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday with the goal of extending its active 23-game home win streak. A showdown looms Saturday at The Corn Palace where the Bulldogs will take on eighth-ranked Dakota Wesleyan (5-0) at 2 p.m. Concordia’s only conference defeat last season came in Mitchell.

Men’s Basketball

The Bulldogs came up a hair short of locking up the program’s first 5-0 start since the 2004-05 season. While competing at the Warrior Classic hosted by Sterling College (Kan.) over the weekend, Concordia topped Sterling, 79-75, before falling to 16th-ranked Tabor College (Kan.), 82-77, the next day (Nov. 11). The Bulldogs have already played three different opponents from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. Fifth-year head coach Ben Limback’s squad sits at 4-1. For more information on Concordia men’s basketball, click HERE.
If the first five games are any indicator, the Bulldogs could find themselves in plenty of close games. Four of their first five games have been decided by margins of six points or less. The only exception was the 96-81 win over Mount Mercy University (Iowa) at the Cattle Classic. Last season Concordia got off to a tough-luck 2-5 start in conference play that included four losses by margins of four points or fewer.
There has been no sign of a sophomore slump for Lincoln East High School product Clay Reimers. In last week’s two games at Sterling, Reimers averaged 17.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while going 10-for-17 from the field. The budding star has been a frequent visitor to the free throw line. He’s gone 34-for-50 from the charity stripe this season. He’s also averaging 18.2 points and 8.2 rebounds through the first five games. He put up 25 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Mount Mercy.
The sophomore class as a whole has had a lot to do with the solid five-game run. Sophomore Jake Hornick has taken well to his new role as the point guard. He’s played in at least 24 minutes in each game and has averaged 17.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 61.7 percent (29-for-47) from the field. Because of his stellar play, Hornick has seen his minutes soar from 18.5 per game as a freshman to 31.0 so far as a sophomore.
Sophomore Tanner Shuck is the third Bulldog averaging in double figures in scoring. The Grand Island, Neb., native has rebounded nicely from a season opener that saw him fail to score. Over the past four outings, Shuck has averaged 14.3 points and has gone 15-for-31 (.484) from 3-point range while reaffirming his status as one of the nation’s top long-range shooters. Shuck appears to be on a fast track to joining the program’s 1,000-point club. He has totaled 372 points in 36 career games.
It would be hard to expect the 2017-18 team to duplicate the 2016-17 squad’s offensive efficiency. While breaking a school record for points per game (88.7) last season, Concordia ranked first nationally in field goal percentage (.528) and second in NAIA Division II in 3-point field goal percentage (.414). However, the Bulldogs have shuffled the deck and have produced solid numbers of 80.4 points per game and 48.4 percent shooting through the first five games.
The sophomore group also includes the likes of Zach Friel (5.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Cordell Gillingham (6.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Riley Tegtmeier (5.2 ppg) and Brevin Sloup (3.2 ppg). Tegtmeier started in place of senior Kyle Pierce at Sterling, giving Concordia an all-sophomore lineup in that game. Tegtmeier recorded a career best 11 points in the win. Gillingham produced a career best 12 points versus Tabor.
Two conference opponents await the Bulldogs on this week’s slate. Concordia will host Midland (4-1) at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday. Three days later, the Bulldogs will trek to The Corn Palace and take on No. 10 Dakota Wesleyan (4-2) at 4 p.m. In the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll, Dakota Wesleyan checked in second and Midland appeared at No. 5.

Wrestling

The second tournament of the season is in the books for head coach Andrew Nicola’s squad. While competing at last week’s Grand View University Open in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, the 16th-ranked Bulldogs combined for 31 wins and five place finishes. Twenty different grapplers represented Concordia at the event that featured two different divisions: one for freshman and sophomores and another labeled as “open.” The previous week, the Bulldogs claimed 51 wins at the Dan Harris Open. For more information on Concordia wrestling, click HERE.
Concordia’s five place finishers at the Grand View Open were Darin Miller (second at 184 fresh/soph), Cameron Devers (third at 141 fresh/soph), Cody Lambert (fifth at 149 fresh/soph), Cyrus Marshall (fifth at 184 fresh/soph) and Anthony Zepeda (fifth at 174 open). Lambert led the way with five wins on the day. The aforementioned group of five totaled 18 victories collectively. Through two tournaments, the Bulldogs have posted 12 combined place finishes.
A native of Holly Springs, N.C., Devers has been a pleasant surprise so far. The sophomore is now 8-1 this season after claiming four wins at both the Dan Harris Open and the Grand View Open. Devers won the 141-pound title at the Dan Harris Open prior to last week’s third-place finish. Devers has already equaled his season win total from his freshman year. He entered this season unranked in the conference.
Miller won three of his four bouts at 184 pounds with the lone loss coming in the championship match in the freshman/sophomore division. Miller even picked up a victory over the University of Northern Iowa’s Justin Guilliams. Additionally, solid days were turned in by Blake Castillo (3-2 at 174) and Tyler Jorgensen (2-2 at 174). Concordia’s three returning national qualifiers – Kirk Kaliszewski (165), Josh Nelsen (184) and Alexander Reimers (197) all got after it in the open division. While they combined for three total wins, there’s plenty of potential amongst the group. Nelsen turned in a 5-3 decision over Trevor Nicholson of the University of Nebraska.
Several of the Bulldogs’ most highly regarded wrestlers did not compete in Pleasant Hill. That group included Giovanni Castillo (133), Chris Kimball (149), Keanu Tom (157), Jon Lado (165) and Walker Fisher (174). Concordia expects to soon be back to full strength. Both Castillo and Lado went unbeaten while winning their respective brackets at the Dan Harris Open. Nicola has high expectations for Castillo, ranked second in the GPAC and 18th nationally at 133 pounds.
Lambert, a sophomore from Greenwood, Neb., is right on Devers’ heels for the early team wins lead. Lambert is now 7-4 this season after his 5-2 weekend at the Grand View Open. Lambert has already recorded three pins. Each of them occurred before three minutes elapsed in those matches. Lambert transferred to Concordia via Minot State University (N.D.). He is a product of Ashland-Greenwood High School.
This season’s schedule includes three tournaments before the first dual of 2017-18. The Bulldogs will be at Saturday’s University of Nebraska-Kearney Open. After that, Concordia will have a break in the action before hosting Dakota Wesleyan on Thursday, Nov. 30. The Bulldogs are also slated to be at Walz Arena on Dec. 8 (Northwest Kansas Tech), Jan. 12 (Midland) and Feb. 1 (Northwestern). Concordia carries an active streak of 21-straight GPAC dual wins into this season.

Cross Country

The season concluded at the GPAC championships on Nov. 4 for all but one of Matt Beisel’s runners. Concordia placed fifth in the conference on the women’s side and sixth on the men’s side. Those finishes were a slight improvement over the two sixth-place claims in 2016. The championship meet was held on the Dordt College campus in Sioux Center, Iowa. For more information on Bulldog cross country, click HERE.
As announced on Nov. 6, senior Emily Deschaine is headed to the national championships for the third year in a row. Deschaine has steadily risen up the conference ladder over her four seasons as a Bulldog. She placed 23rd (19:05.97) in 2014, 11th (19:00.72) in 2015, ninth (18:20.96) in 2016 and sixth (18:32.60) in 2017. The native of Frankenmuth, Mich., has earned all-conference accolades for the third-straight year. Her time at the GPAC championships represented a season best.
Deschaine now prepares for the 2017 NAIA Cross Country National Championships, set to take place at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash., on Saturday. In her two prior appearances at nationals, Deschaine placed 129th (19:27) in 2015 and 195th (19:29) in 2016. Last year’s championship meet was held in Elsah, Ill., at North Farm Course.