Bulldog Weekly Report (Oct. 23)

By Jacob Knabel on Oct. 23, 2018 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Male: Josiah McAllister, Cross Country

A senior from Atkinson, Neb., McAllister placed 17th out of 276 runners at the Seminole Valley Stampede in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Oct. 20. He completed the 8k race in 26:40.6 and was the highest finisher among GPAC competitors at the race. McAllister has been the team’s top runner at four of five meets this season.

Female: Jenna Habegger, Volleyball

A senior from Pawnee City, Neb., Habegger floored nine kills in last week’s match at College of Saint Mary, moving her past 500 kills for her career. Habegger’s 232 kills this season are a career high. She will play her final home match as a Bulldog on Wednesday.

Previous Athletes of the Week
Oct. 16 – Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
Oct. 9 – Kordell Glause (football) / Brynn Suddeth (soccer)
Oct. 2 – Zac Walter (football) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
SEPTEMBER Athletes of the Month: Ryan Durdon (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)
Sept. 25 – Roger de la Villa (soccer) / Erin Lokke (shooting sports)
Sept. 18 – Lane Napier (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)
Sept. 11 – Ryan Durdon (football) / Marissa Hoerman (volleyball)
Sept. 4 – JP Verissimo (soccer) / Lauren Martin (soccer)
Aug. 28 – Garrett Perry (soccer) / Jenna Habegger (volleyball)

News and notes:

Hoops season arrives this week: Game week has arrived for the Concordia women’s basketball program, which will tip off the 2018-19 season on Friday at the Viterbo Invitational. Head coach Drew Olson’s squad will take on Indiana Wesleyan University in La Crosse, Wis., at 3 p.m. CT on Friday. The Bulldogs will also play on Saturday against either Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.) or Viterbo University on Saturday (1:30/3:30 p.m.), pending Friday’s results. Meanwhile, head coach Ben Limback’s men’s basketball team will open its season at home next Monday (Oct. 29) versus Kansas Wesleyan University.
-Season previews: Men’s Basketball | Women’s Basketball

Preseason basketball polls unveiled: The GPAC released its preseason basketball polls on Monday. Head coach Drew Olson’s women’s squad earned the No. 1 spot with nine first-place votes and a total of 119 points in the poll. On the other hand, head coach Ben Limback’s squad was pegged 10th in the league poll with 17 points. The women are coming off back-to-back GPAC regular-season and tournament titles while the men placed sixth in the conference in 2017-18. For more coverage of the polls, visit the GPAC website.

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.

Cross Country

  • Idle since the Briar Cliff Invite (Oct. 6), the Bulldogs returned to action this past Saturday at the Seminole Valley Stampede hosted by Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Head coach Matt Beisel’s squads turned in place finishes of seventh out of 27 teams on the women’s side and 12th out of 23 teams on the men’s side. The meet was the fifth official one of the 2018 season and the final one before the upcoming GPAC championships. For more on Concordia cross country, click HERE.
  • With the results that have been turned in to this point, the Bulldog women do not appear to be in a position to earn an at-large berth to the NAIA national championships (the GPAC receives two team automatic bids to nationals). However, it’s been another year of growth for a team paced by Taylor Grove. In the NAIA national poll released on Oct. 10, Concordia cracked the “receiving votes” category. If the Bulldogs do not qualify for nationals as a team, Grove, freshman Abi DeLoach and junior Rebekah Hinrichs are all candidates to qualify individually.
  • Grove has been the top performer all season for a women’s squad currently rated as the fourth best team in the GPAC. In her latest effort, Grove galloped the muddy 5k course at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids in 19:26.6, which placed her 15th out of the field of 286 runners. On a faster course in North Sioux City, S.D., two weeks earlier, Grove clocked a time of 18:27.18. Now she turns her focus to the conference championships. She is poised to improve upon her 31st place conference finish as a sophomore (did not compete last year due to injury).
  • Twenty-five women represented the Bulldogs at the Seminole Valley Stampede. Grove was followed in the team’s top seven by DeLoach (19:57.0; 32nd), Hinrichs (20:00.03; 36th), sophomores Lydia Cook (20:38.9; 79th) and Alyssa Fye (20:42.1; 81st), junior Hannah Rebmann (20:42.9; 82nd) and sophomore Alyssa Bierwagen (21:13.8; 108th). For some Concordia runners, this was the last time out. The GPAC meet allows each team to enter a maximum of 10 competitors.
  • Like the women’s team, the men have also had a reliable senior as their frontrunner. Josiah McAllister paced the squad with a 17th place finish that was earned in a time of 26:40.6 in the 8k race at the Seminole Valley Stampede. McAllister has been the team’s No. 1 runner at every meet except for one. On the heels of McAllister, the men’s top seven featured the freshman Lehr (27:20.2; 48th), senior Thomas Taylor (27:22.0; 45th), sophomores Jordan Lorenz (28:28.6; 107th) and Christian Van Cleave (28:36.7; 121st), freshman Ethan Pankow (28:58.3; 135th) and senior Evan Asche (29:04.9; 141st).
  • This past meet, Grove and company managed to outkick Friends University (Kan.), a team that had appeared above them in the receiving votes category of the national poll. The meet featured a combined 13 men’s and women’s squads that were either ranked or receiving votes in the most recent NAIA coaches’ poll. Unlike many meets this season, Concordia did not see many of its conference rivals. There were four complete GPAC teams present on the women’s side and three that partook on the men’s side.
  • Beisel hopes his teams have saved their best for the conference championships. The Bulldogs are aiming to move up from their 2017 GPAC finishes of fifth on the women’s side and sixth on the men’s side. Experience will be much more of an ally than it was a year ago. Concordia returns nine of 10 women and eight of 10 men that competed at the 2017 conference championships. Those numbers do not even include Grove or McAllister. During the GPAC era (2000-present), the Bulldog cross country programs have won a total of six GPAC team titles (three men, three women).
  • Midland will serve as this year’s host for the GPAC championships, which are set for 10:45 a.m. CT on Saturday, Nov. 3. The venue will be North Bend Golf Course in North Bend, Neb. The Concordia men captured a GPAC title in Fremont in 2009. Competitors who earn bids to nationals will extend their seasons and run on the national stage on Friday, Nov. 16.

Football

  • An uncharacteristically rough day in the turnover department and three empty red zone trips were the main culprits in a 21-13 loss to Hastings last week. It was just the third loss over the past 15 home games for the Concordia football program. The Bulldog offense effectively moved the football between the 20s, but turned the ball over on downs deep in Bronco territory on four occasions. Second-year head coach Patrick Daberkow’s squad is now below .500 overall (3-4, 2-4 GPAC) for the first time this season. For more on Concordia football, click HERE.
  • The Bulldogs are used to playing in games that come down to the wire. Five of their seven games have been decided by single-digit margins. Games against Buena Vista University (27-20 win), Jamestown (16-13 win), Dakota Wesleyan (14-9 win) and Hastings (21-13 loss) have each essentially come down to the last possession. On its final possession versus the Broncos, Concordia drove to the Hastings 10-yard line for a first and goal before sputtering and turning it over on downs.
  • Lane Napier continues to be busy from his linebacker spot. He moved up to second nationally in tackles per game (13.6) after racking up 18 more (and a blocked extra point) versus Hastings. He also already piled up 95 total tackles and even missed a good chunk of the contest at Dordt. He should fly by the 97 tackles he registered last season as a freshman. The David City, Neb., native’s stat line also includes eight tackles for loss and three sacks. He has notched at least 10 stops in five of the first seven outings.
  • Though the names have changed around a lot up front this season, running back Ryan Durdon always seems to be good for at least one explosive play each game. The latest example was a 42-yard touchdown for Durdon on a screen pass. It marked Durdon’s 15th career touchdown (first receiving). The native of Decatur, Texas, wound up with 206 all-purpose yards (82 on kick returns, 80 rushing and 44 receiving). With his 80 rushing yards, Durdon moved up another rung on the program’s all-time rushing list, in front of Jeff Towns (1,930). Durdon is in seventh place on that list with 1,981 career rushing yards.
  • It was something of an accomplishment for the Bulldogs to still have a chance on their last offensive possession despite being minus-five in turnovers against Hastings. Coming into the game, Concordia had turned it over only three times in its first six contests and had a plus-10 turnover margin that ranked fourth best in the nation. The Bulldogs had not lost a fumble this season until losing three to the Broncos.
  • Some progress was made offensively by Concordia, which put up a season high 371 total yards versus Hastings. The biggest issue was simply finishing drives. The Bulldogs have yet to score more than 27 points in a game and rank 86th nationally in scoring offense (15.4). On the bright side, Concordia has seen some young players such as sophomore Arthur Anderson (133 all-purpose yards, touchdown vs. Hastings) and freshman Korrell Koehlmoos (98 all-purpose yards vs. Hastings) emerge last week. They combined to get 25 touches.
  • Other than missing an extra point, it was a solid day for the Bulldog special teams last week. Concordia has been close to breaking a kickoff return for a touchdown on several occasions this season. Against Hastings, Durdon had kickoff returns that went for 47 and 35 yards, respectively. As a punter, sophomore Lane Castaneda has shown good pop. His two punts last week covered 66 and 54 yards, respectively. On the season, Castaneda has averaged 39.0 yards on 21 punts.
  • Napier was not the only productive linebacker in last week’s game. Derek Tachovsky (11 tackles), Riley Bilstein (10 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack) and Zac Walter (seven tackles, one tackle for loss) also turned in solid performances. In his fourth game as a safety, senior Kordell Glause made seven stops. Glause was recently featured by the Lincoln Journal Star.
  • This week brings a significant challenge for the Bulldogs, who will head to top-ranked Morningside (8-0, 6-0 GPAC) for a 1 p.m. CT kickoff in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday. The Mustangs remained unbeaten via a 42-34 win at third-ranked Northwestern last week. Concordia has not defeated Morningside since 2003. Like usual, the Mustangs possess a prolific offense. They are averaging 57.4 points per game.

Women’s Soccer

  • It’s again an exciting time for Concordia women’s soccer, which enters the final week of the regular season tied with Hastings (11-0-3, 8-0-2 GPAC) and Midland (11-1-2, 8-0-2 GPAC) atop the GPAC standings. The only bummer is that last week’s 1-1 double overtime draw at Jamestown bumped the Bulldogs out of sole possession of first place. Also last week, Concordia pummeled Mount Marty, 12-0, on Oct. 16. Sixth-year head coach Greg Henson’s squad is now 11-1-4 overall and 8-0-2 in conference play. For more information on Bulldog women’s soccer, click HERE.
  • The consistency of high achievement has been remarkable for the program. Concordia has a chance to put together an unbeaten conference regular season for the third time in five seasons. The 2014 (7-0-3) and 2017 (9-0-1) teams set impressive standards. Entering the week, the Bulldogs also have the conference’s longest league regular-season unbeaten streak, which has moved to 25 (22-0-3) and dates back to the middle of October 2016. During that 25-game run, Concordia has outscored its conference foes by a combined total of 91-9.
  • The 12 goals scored at Mount Marty equaled a program single-game record that had also been achieved on three other occasions. The other such instances occurred in 2000 (12-1 win over Bethel College), 2004 (12-1 win over York College) and 2016 (12-0 win over Mount Marty). By finding the back of the net 13 times last week, the Bulldogs are now at even 60 goals for the season. That figure ranks third best (second most in the Henson era) in a single season in school history. The record is a lofty 80 goals by the 2004 squad.
  • An individual record was also broken during the win at Mount Marty. Senior Lauren Martin assisted a goal each in the fourth and 16th minutes of the rout. The latter assist ran Martin’s season total to 16, pushing her past the previous program single-season record of 15 assists by Liesl Barz in 2004. Martin enters this week as the NAIA national leader in assists this season. Two players are close behind with 15 assists apiece. Martin has also scored seven goals herself.
  • Senior Maria Deeter found the back of the net in the 10th minute at Mount Marty and moved her goal counts to a team high 14 for the season and 37 for her career. A scary sight occurred at Jamestown when Deeter had to leave the game in the second half due to injury. She’s currently one goal behind Jessica Skerston for fifth place on the program’s all-time goals list. Deeter is also tied for fourth in school history for career assists (27).
  • Deeter, Martin and Brynn Suddeth have been an effective offensive trifecta for the Bulldogs. Not only does Martin lead both the GPAC and the NAIA in assists, Maria Deeter ranks third among conference players in goals and Suddeth ranks fifth in that same category. The goals have come in bunches for Suddeth, who recorded her third hat trick this season in the win at Mount Marty. Her 12 goals are second on the team to Deeter. In conference games only, Suddeth is tied with Midland’s Nayeli Rodriguez for the most goals in the GPAC.
  • In terms of overall record, the 2018 team still has a shot at ranking right up there with the accomplished squads coached by Henson over the past several seasons. Since the program’s first varsity season in 1996, Concordia has lost at least two games every season (15-2-4 in 2017). So far, the ’18 Bulldogs have tasted defeat only once. However, it’s not going to be easy to catch the 2014 team (16-3-3) for the most victories in school history.
  • Another conference championship push continues on Wednesday when Concordia will play at 20th-ranked Midland at 5 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs’ GPAC regular-season title run last year also included a late season win in Fremont. If all goes well at Midland, Concordia will have a chance to celebrate a conference title on Saturday when it hosts Briar Cliff (8-7-1, 7-3 GPAC) at 1 p.m. The conference tournament will begin on Oct. 31 with the quarterfinals.

Men’s Soccer

  • A pair of trips north last week resulted in a win and a tie. The Bulldogs trekked to Yankton, S.D., and earned a 3-1 victory over Mount Marty (2-8-2, 0-6-2 GPAC) on Oct. 16. Four days later, Concordia settled for a 1-1 double overtime draw at Jamestown in a venture even farther north. Now entering the final week of the regular season, 11th-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad stands at 8-4-3 overall and at 4-2-3 in GPAC play (seventh place). For more information on Bulldog men’s soccer, click HERE.
  • The tie at Jamestown was a bit of a punch to the gut considering Concordia got a second minute goal from Carlos Ferrer and then held the lead all the way up until 16 seconds remained in regulation. That’s when the Jimmies found the back of the net off a throw in to necessitate overtime. The missed opportunity to tack on two more points in the GPAC standings stings considering the jumble after Hastings (9-0) and Morningside (8-1). Currently, the Bulldogs possess 15 GPAC points – three fewer than third-place Midland.
  • Concordia also squandered a chance to get closer to hitting the double-digit win mark. Weides has led the program to seven straight seasons of 10 or more victories. Since the beginning of the 2011 season when that streak began, the Bulldogs have put together a combined overall mark of 88-49-16. No victory during that stretch has been sweeter than the GPAC championship game upset of Hastings in 2015. The run of success has pushed Weides to 105 career head coaching wins.
  • Concordia happily broke a negative trend in the tie at Jamestown. Although the Bulldogs were unable to see out the win, they did manage to score the game’s first goal. Coming into that contest, they had allowed the opposition to record the game’s first goal in six of their first eight GPAC games this season. In those six instances, Concordia has responded with a win or tie four times. The goal by Ferrer, which found the back of the net after 1:28 had elapsed, was the team’s quickest goal in terms of time after kickoff this season.
  • The overtimes and the ties are mounting. The Bulldogs’ three draws are the most of any team in the GPAC. Concordia has gone to overtime in five games (eight total overtime periods), including three of the last four. The Bulldogs are 2-0-3 on those occasions with the victories coming over McPherson College (Kan.) and Dakota Wesleyan. The golden goals have been turned in by Jack Arra and Roger de la Villa (named GPAC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 16). The current team will have hard time outdoing the 2014 squad in terms of overtimes. The ’14 team played in eight overtime games and in a total of 15 overtime periods.
  • Ferrer is actually the team’s leader in points (16) despite having scored only four goals this season. His eight assists pace the squad and rank fourth most amongst GPAC players. Ferrer added an assist at Mount Marty in addition to the goal he scored at Jamestown. The eight assists are by far a career high. He needs two more goals to top his career high in that department (five in 2016).
  • Joao Pedro Verissimo got on the board with his first career goal in the victory at Mount Marty. He came through with a goal in the 44th minute to level the score, 1-1, at the time. While it was his first goal, Verissimo has chipped in three assists this season. Matthew Ho and Carlos Orquiz also produced a goal apiece in Yankton. Concordia enters the week having outscored its opponents 38-24 through 15 games. Surprisingly, the Bulldogs still have just one clean sheet.
  • Concordia likely needs to earn six points this week if it is to stand any chance of grabbing a top four seed for the conference tournament. At the very worst, the Bulldogs will at least be the No. 7 seed. Up next is Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Midland (9-7, 6-3 GPAC). Concordia will then host Briar Cliff (8-5-2, 5-2-1 GPAC) at 3:30 p.m. CT in what will be senior day. The most prominent seniors are starters Angel Alvarez, Jack Bennett, Derek Eitzmann and Aries Fung.

Volleyball

  • It was a light past week for the Bulldogs, who took the weekend off after a straight-sets defeat at College of Saint Mary (13-15, 3-10 GPAC) on Oct. 17. The loss was a major blow to Concordia’s chances of qualifying for the eight-team GPAC tournament, which begins with the quarterfinals on Nov. 3. First-year head coach Ben Boldt’s squad stands at 13-10 overall and at 3-10 in conference play (tied for ninth place) with three matches left in the regular season. For more on Bulldog volleyball, click HERE.
  • The reality at this point is that Concordia could win its final three regular season contests and still not qualify for the GPAC tournament. The seventh and eighth place teams in the league are currently Doane (5-8 GPAC) and Briar Cliff (5-9), which both have two more GPAC wins than the Bulldogs. Because of recent additions of College of Saint Mary and Jamestown to the conference, four teams will be on the outside looking in at the GPAC tournament. Concordia was rated 10th in the conference poll released last week by the NAIA.
  • The Bulldogs have now dropped each of their past nine sets since defeating Briar Cliff in four sets on Oct. 5. The latest loss was easily the most frustrating. Concordia posted negative hitting percentages in the first and second sets at College of Saint Mary and could not recover. The Bulldogs were actually more competitive in recent losses to 14th-ranked Hastings and fifth-ranked Dordt. Four of the six sets against those foes were decided by two-point margins.
  • One of the Bulldogs who did stand out statistically last week was reliable junior middle blocker Emmie Noyd. She has been a difficult matchup for the Flames. In the meeting with College of Saint Mary in Seward on Sept. 4, Noyd pummeled a career high 23 kills, hit .600 and was soon after named the GPAC Attacker of the Week. In last week’s match, Noyd floored 10 kills while hitting .563. She also added four blocks as a bright spot in the loss.
  • Concordia is getting set for its final home match of the 2018 season. It will be senior night on Wednesday when Morningside comes to town. It is a small senior class. Among the varsity players, only Kelsey Baarck and Jenna Habegger are seniors. Baarck is in her second season playing for the Bulldogs after transferring from Mott Community College. The native of Frankenmuth, Mich., has totaled 171 kills in a Concordia uniform. Meanwhile, Habegger has played varsity her entire four years in Seward. The Pawnee City, Neb., native surpassed 500 career kills (501) last week. Her 232 kills (3.05/set) this season are a career high.
  • It’s still a process for a program that is building towards winning a conference championship for the first time since 2000 when it shared the title in the first year of the GPAC’s existence. In the years since then, above .500 records in conference play have been sporadic (two times in 11 seasons since 2007). The best conference run in recent years was a 22-10 GPAC regular-season mark over the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. Concordia dipped to three GPAC wins in 2017. One more victory down the stretch would eclipse last year’s total.
  • Of course, the process is made more challenging when playing within the NAIA’s best volleyball conference. The Bulldogs’ strength of schedule ranks 33rd among the 221 NAIA volleyball teams that appear in Massey Ratings. Though Concordia’s nonconference slate was not particularly highly regarded, the win over McPherson College (Kan.), currently ranked 18th in NAIA poll, continues to look better and better. Concordia has played five matches against the current top 25 and will have another one coming this Saturday.
  • The season is winding down with the home finale next on the slate. The Bulldogs will host Morningside (12-11, 6-7 GPAC) at 7:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday. They will then travel to Fremont, Neb., for a 3 p.m. first serve at No. 12 Midland (19-4, 11-2 GPAC). Concordia will attempt to avenge earlier losses to both the Mustangs and Warriors.