Bulldog Weekly Report (Oct. 24)

By Jacob Knabel on Oct. 24, 2017 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Female: LindseyCarley, Soccer

Carley, a native of Johnston, Iowa, recorded 10 combined saves and a pair of shutouts last week in road wins over No. 18 Midland and Dordt. As a result, Carley was named the NAIA national and GPAC defensive player of the week while representing the first-place Bulldogs. She ranks 10th nationally in goals against average.

Male: MarceloHernandez, Soccer

Hernandez, who hails from Quito, Ecuador, contributed two goals and an assists as Concordia earned road victories last week over Midland and Dordt on its way to breaking program records for overall wins and GPAC wins in a season. A first team all-conference choice in 2016, Hernandez has tallied 10 goals and nine assists this season.

Previous athletes of the week
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:

Military Appreciation Day on Saturday: Saturday’s home football game with Dakota Wesleyan has been declared Military Appreciation Day at Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CT. The event will be co-sponsored with the Nebraska National Guard. All military personnel will be admitted free of charge with presentation of valid ID. Check out the event’s Facebook page HERE.

Basketball Jones: Basketball season is quickly approaching. The Concordia men’s basketball season will open its season next Monday (Oct. 30) with a trip to Kansas Wesleyan University. Both Bulldog hoops squads will make their home debuts at the annual Cattle Classic Nov. 3-4. In conference preseason polls released last week by the GPAC, head coach Drew Olson’s team was picked by league coaches to repeat as conference champions. Meanwhile, head coach Ben Limback’s group checked in at No. 8 in the poll. Check out our basketball season previews: MEN | WOMEN.

18th annual Cattle Classic: We’re getting set to host the Cattle Classic for the 18th straight year. The basketball 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 donation. The classic features four men’s games and four women’s games.

Durdon generates buzz: The 266-yard, four-touchdown performance (Oct. 14 vs. Midland) by Ryan Durdon generated some local buzz. The Omaha World-Herald’s Gene Schinzel also wrote about Durdon in an article splashed inside Nebraska’s largest newspaper.

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.

Men’s Soccer

  • A pair of road wins last week means Concordia has a shot at claiming at least a piece of the program’s first-ever GPAC regular-season title. In their most recent action, the Bulldogs won a dramatic 2-1 double overtime game at Midland on Oct. 18 and then pummeled Dordt, 5-0, on Oct. 21. The only blemish on the résumé remains the 2-1 double overtime loss at Northwestern on Oct. 7. Tenth-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad stands at 14-1-1 overall and at 7-1 in the GPAC with one game left in the regular season. For more information on Concordia men’s soccer, click HERE.
  • The 2017 Bulldogs have their sights set on not just breaking the program record for most wins in a season, but shattering it. The win at Midland pushed the current squad past the 2000 team for most victories in a campaign in school history. A junior defender at the time, Weides helped the 2000 Bulldogs to an overall record of 12-7 (4-4 GPAC). Several teams since then have come close to reaching a dozen wins. Weides guided four separate squads to exactly 11 wins (2011, 2012, 2015, 2016).
  • Several of those past teams also came up just short of top-four conference finishes that come with the reward of a GPAC tournament quarterfinal home game. Last season’s squad became the first in program annals to host in the GPAC postseason. Concordia took advantage, earning a 2-1 win over Northwestern on its way to a second GPAC tournament title game in a row. With 21 points in the conference standings, the Bulldogs have guaranteed themselves a conference seed of no worse than No. 3.
  • The standard has been raised this season in more ways than one. Previously, no Concordia men’s soccer team had ever won more than six conference games in a single season. The 2017 Bulldogs (7-1 GPAC) broke another school record by eclipsing the six-win GPAC win totals recorded by the 2013 and 2016 editions.
  • Weides inherited a program in need of reinforcements if it was going to compete with the likes of Hastings and Midland at the top of the conference. Now creeping up on 100 career wins (95-76-18), Weides has built up a program that averaged less than six wins per year over his first three seasons. Since the start of 2011, Concordia has averaged more than 11 wins per year and has banked at least 10 victories in each of those seasons.
  • Senior forward Micah Lehenbauer emerged as the hero in the double overtime victory at Midland. His golden goal in the 104th minute erased the agony the Bulldogs felt when the Warriors equalized with only two seconds remaining in regulation. Lehenbauer has been on a tear. Over the past nine games, he has tallied 10 goals and has failed to score in just one contest during that stretch. His 11 goals on the year have tied him with Lewis Rathbone for a team best. Lehenbauer’s 26 career goals rank as the highest total among active Bulldogs.
  • Concordia possesses three of the conference’s top six goal scorers. With 11 goals apiece, Lehenbauer and Rathbone are tied for fourth on the GPAC leaderboard. Senior Marcelo Hernandez is right on their tails with 10 goals. Concordia is the only team in the conference with three players who have registered double-figure goal totals. As a team, the Bulldogs rank third in the GPAC in terms of goals scored per game (2.88).
  • The clean sheets continue to mount. The shutout of Dordt marked Concordia’s eighth on the season. That’s right in line with the 2015 GPAC tournament championship team that posted nine shutouts in 21 games behind goalkeeper Mark Horsburgh. Junior Jack Bennett is in his first season as Horsburgh’s replacement. A native of Oxford, England, Bennett ranks 13th nationally in goals against average (0.710).
  • The most anticipated home game of the season awaits on Wednesday when No. 8 Hastings (13-3, 7-0 GPAC) visits Seward for an 8 p.m. CT kickoff underneath the Bulldog Stadium lights. A victory would sew up a conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. No matter the outcome, the Bulldogs will host a GPAC tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

Women’s Soccer

  • This program just keeps finding ways to get it done. Last week the Bulldogs went on the road and played stellar defensively while upsetting No. 18 Midland, 1-0, on Oct. 18 before upending Dordt, 1-0, on Oct. 21. What it means is that Concordia can claim the GPAC title all to itself if it can nail down one more victory. Fifth-year head coach Greg Henson’s first-place squad stands at 12-2-3 overall and at 8-0-1 in GPAC play. For more information on Bulldog women’s soccer, click HERE.
  • Concordia is a roll that will be difficult for future teams to duplicate. Not only has the program not suffered a loss of any kind since Sept. 9 at Graceland University (Iowa), it has gone 17-straight games against GPAC opponents without a defeat. During that run, the Bulldogs are 16-0-1 and have outscored their conference foes by a combined total of 55-4. Thirteen of those 17 contests have resulted in clean sheets.
  • Speaking of clean sheets, Concordia has impressively responded to the graduation of record-breaking goalkeeper Chrissy Lind. Johnston, Iowa, native Lindsey Carley has gotten the bulk of the time as Lind’s replacement. Carley has been credited with five shutouts on the year and has a GPAC player of the week award on her résumé. As a team, the Bulldogs have recorded 10 shutouts, including eight in conference play. Carley is up to No. 10 nationally for goals against average (0.500).
  • The victory at Dordt allowed Concordia to break a program record for most conference victories in a single season. The previous standard of seven league wins had been achieved by the 2014, 2015 and 2016 teams. The 2017 Bulldogs are looking to navigate through the conference schedule without a loss for the first time since the 2014 squad went 7-0-3 before winning the GPAC tournament. The ’14 edition continues to own the school record for number of overall wins (16-3-3).
  • It took Henson less than four seasons to become the winningest coach in program history, which dates back to 1996. Henson has won at least 10 games in each of his five years in Seward. His overall record now stands at 67-25-10, including a GPAC mark of 34-11-5. Henson became the first coach to lead the program to a conference tournament championship and to the national tournament.
  • Because of its stellar defensive play, Concordia needed just one goal to escape both of last week’s outings with victories. Kaitlyn Radebaugh (Midland) and Esther Soenksen (Dordt) surfaced with game-winning goals to keep the Bulldogs atop the conference standings. A freshman from Roca, Neb., Radebaugh has made big contributions off the bench. Her eight goals rank second behind only Maria Deeter (nine goals) for the team lead. Meanwhile, Soenksen’s score last week put her at 30 goals for her career.
  • Also the team leader in assists, Deeter has a shot to crack the program’s top five for most prolific assist seasons. With 10 assists, Deeter needs two more to equal Brittany Tomsick (2006) and Kristi Thomas (1997, 1999) for the third highest single-season assist total in school history. The record is owned by Liesl Barz, who dished out 15 assists in 2004.
  • The 2016 team ended the campaign as the second highest goal scorer squad in program history with 67 goals. This year’s team could still push for a top-five spot. No. 5 on the current list is the 2003 team that produced 57 goals. Concordia enters this week with 51 goals scored in its first 17 games. A lengthy postseason run could help the Bulldogs push for 60 goals and a top three spot on the school’s all-time list.
  • It doesn’t get much better. No. 20 Hastings (13-1-2, 7-0-1 GPAC) stands between Concordia and its first-ever GPAC regular-season title. The Bulldogs and Broncos will kick it off from Seward at 5:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday in what will be Concordia’s final game of the regular season. Deeter and company have clinched a GPAC quarterfinal home game (Nov. 2) and will be either the No. 1 or 2 seed, pending this week’s results.

Football

  • The road drought is over. Returning to the site of their most recent road victory, the Bulldogs edged host Dordt, 24-17, in Sioux Center, Iowa, on Oct. 21. Concordia followed the lead of a rugged defense and a ball control offense while claiming consecutive wins for the first time this season. The Bulldogs held the ball for more than 37 minutes of game time. First-year head coach Patrick Daberkow’s squad has improved to 4-3 overall and to 3-2 in conference action (third place). For more information on Concordia football, click HERE.
  • The Bulldogs have had no problem protecting their home turf. They own an active nine-game home win streak that was extended by the 44-14 whooping of Midland on Oct. 14. On the other hand, the road had been unkind so far this fall. Concordia had suffered road defeats at the hands of No. 20 Kansas Wesleyan University, No. 24 Northwestern and Hastings before tasting victory in Sioux Center, Iowa. The lone remaining away contest will be played at Briar Cliff on Nov. 4.
  • A game ball could have been given out to the entire defense for limiting Dordt to a season low 17 points and only 300 total yards in last week’s contest. While the Defenders managed 227 rushing yards, that number still came in more than 58 yards shy of their season average. They had entered the contest averaging 34.2 points and 487.2 total yards. Dordt had also been knocking on the door of the top 25 national rankings after back-to-back wins over No. 12 Doane and No. 19 Hastings.
  • The game plan the past two weeks has been clear from an offensive perspective: feed Ryan Durdon the rock. After carrying the football a combined total of 42 times in games three through five, the Decatur, Texas, native has toted the rock 69 times for 402 yards and two touchdowns over the past two weeks. The workhorse back was called upon to carry the football 41 times for 136 yards at Dordt. Those performances have pushed to Durdon to ninth nationally with 855 yards rushing. It’s not crazy to think that Durdon could push JaMaine Lewis’ school single-season rushing record of 1,265 from 2007. Durdon needs to average 137 rushing yards over the last three games in order to break that record.
  • Back on the field last week, senior Jared Garcia can now continue his pursuit of a couple of Hall of Fame tight end Ross Wurdeman’s receiving records. After catching seven passes for 51 yards and a touchdown at Dordt, Garcia has pushed his career totals to 152 catches for 2,301 yards and 31 touchdowns. Garcia already owns the career receiving touchdowns record. He’s closing in on Wurdeman’s career program receptions (168) and yards (2,458) standards.
  • Concordia’s playmaking secondary is a big reason for the success of the defense in recent weeks. Named the NAIA national defensive player of the week on Oct. 16, D’Mauria Martin made six stops, including one for loss, and broke up a pass in last week’s win. Fellow safety Nate Gilmore collected seven tackles, forced a fumble that he recovered and broke up a pass. The Bulldogs allowed the Defenders just 73 passing yards. Concordia ranks 11th nationally in pass efficiency defense (106.9).
  • The offense seems to have found an identity with Durdon in the backfield running behind a physical offensive line. That identity also includes Garcia as a playmaking receiver and Riley Wiltfong as a steadying presence at quarterback. Since returning from injury in the win over Midland, Wiltfong has completed 25-of-40 passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns in a run-first offense. Wiltfong has fired at least two touchdown tosses in each of his last three games.
  • Senior Kiyoshi Brey was one of Wiltfong’s favorite targets last week. The Winchester, Calif., native caught five passes for 79 yards. His biggest play of the day was a 17-yard touchdown catch on a third-and-12. The score, which came on the first play of the fourth quarter, ended up being the game winner. Brey already has career highs this season for catches (18), receiving yards (268) and touchdowns (three).
  • Now the Bulldogs take aim at their 10th-consecutive home win. Dakota Wesleyan (5-4, 3-3 GPAC) will serve as Saturday’s opponent for a contest set to kick off at 1 p.m. CT inside Bulldog Stadium. Concordia must do a better job defending Tiger quarterback Dillon Turner, who torched the Bulldogs for 347 passing yards and five touchdowns in last season’s meeting that resulted in a 52-30 Dakota Wesleyan win. The Tigers are coming off a 63-24 win over Briar Cliff last week.

Volleyball

  • Despair no more, Concordia is on the board in conference play. After entering last week still winless in the GPAC, the Bulldogs picked up much needed victories over College of Saint Mary (Oct. 18), Dakota Wesleyan (Oct. 20) and Mount Marty (Oct. 21) while dropping just one set over those three matches. By protecting its home court, Concordia has put itself in good position to qualify for the eight-team GPAC tournament. Sixth-year head coach Scott Mattera’s squad now stands at 8-16 overall and at 3-11 in the GPAC, moving it up to eighth place. For more information on the Bulldog volleyball program, click HERE.
  • Some positive results were needed for a squad that had last claimed a win on Sept. 2 prior to last week’s action. The Bulldogs have struggled on the road (0-8) and went through a nasty stretch during which nine of 11 matches were against nationally-ranked opponents. Concordia had the 10th most challenging schedule in the NAIA (according to Massey Ratings) before first serve against College of Saint Mary. The program now has its first three-match win streak since late October of last year.
  • The headlining performer last week was sophomore middle Emmie Noyd. She hit better than .400 in all three matches while posting kill numbers of 13, 11 and 10, respectively. The 13 kills were the most for Noyd since she pounded down 16 in a four-set loss at Missouri Valley College on Aug. 25. The monster week for the native of Shelby, Neb., pushed her season hitting percentage to .311. More of an emphasis was made on finding Noyd on the attack after she had a combined 14 hitting opportunities in losses at Hastings and Northwestern the week before.
  • Most of Noyd’s kills were facilitated by freshman setter Tara Callahan. Her game continues to grow as she gets deeper into her first collegiate season. Last week Callahan averaged 11.7 assists per set while compiling a total of 117 assists. She also contributed 26 digs, 10 kills and five blocks. On the season, Callahan is averaging 8.9 assists per set, a larger figure than former first team all-conference setter Alayna Kavanaugh averaged her freshman season (8.1).
  • Freshman Marissa Hoerman has established herself as the libero of the present and future. Last week she racked up 49 digs (4.9 per set) over the three victories. Her 23 digs in the win over Dakota Wesleyan eclipsed her previous career best of 19 digs in the Sept. 23 loss at Morningside. A native of Evergreen, Colo., Hoerman earned all-state honors as a prep at Evergreen Senior High School.
  • The Bulldogs put together one of their most efficient attacking weeks of the season, hitting .185 versus College of Saint Mary, .271 versus Dakota Wesleyan and .245 versus Mount Marty. The .271 hitting percentage was the best for Concordia since it hit .381 in a straight sets win over York College on Sept. 2. Improvement in this area will be a key for the remainder of this season and moving into 2018. The Bulldogs currently rank ninth in the GPAC in hitting percentage (.179).
  • Statistically, Callahan did a nice job of spreading the ball around. In the win over College of Saint Mary, four different Bulldogs piled up double-figure kill totals: Noyd (13), Alex La Plant (12), Anna Lund (12) and Jenna Habegger (11). Two days later, two Concordia players reached 10 or more kills: La Plant (14), Habegger (12) and Noyd (11). La Plant is the first Bulldog to surpass 200 kills this season. Her team high total stands at 220. Habegger has 190.
  • Concordia celebrated its senior day on Oct. 21. Four seniors were recognized in a pregame ceremony: Jocelyn Garcia, Annie Friesen, Courtney Jurgens and Alaina Ruszkowski. Both Garcia and Friesen were first team all-conference performers for the 2015 team that reached the national tournament. Garcia was also tabbed a NAIA honorable mention All-American that same season.
  • Only three matches remain on the regular-season schedule. Next up is Tuesday’s (Oct. 24) visit from Grace University (6-18). First serve is set for 7 p.m. CT from Walz Arena. The Bulldogs will get back to conference play on Saturday with a trip to Briar Cliff (16-7, 6-7 GPAC) for a 3 p.m. start. Concordia needs to remain in front of or tied with Dakota Wesleyan (2-11 GPAC), Mount Marty (1-12 GPAC) and College of Saint Mary (1-12 GPAC) in order to lock up the No. 8 seed for the conference tournament.

Cross Country

  • The fourth meet of the season is in the books. Last weekend the Bulldogs made their way to Fox Run Golf Course in Yankton, S.D., for the Mount Marty College Invite. The Concordia women placed third out of nine teams while the men finished fifth out of 10 teams in the field. Prior to this past Saturday, head coach Matt Beisel’s squads had also competed at the Dordt College Classic (Sept. 9), the Dean White Invite (Sept. 23) and the Briar Cliff Invite (Oct. 7). For more information on Concordia cross country, click HERE.
  • At the Mount Marty Invite, the Bulldogs outran three of their four GPAC competitors on the men’s side and bettered two of their three conference rivals on the women’s side. The men managed to beat out Dakota Wesleyan (seventh), Briar Cliff (ninth) and Mount Marty (10th). Meanwhile, the women placed above Mount Marty (seventh) and Dakota Wesleyan (ninth). According to the most recent official GPAC ratings (Oct. 23), Concordia is ranked fifth in the GPAC for men and women.
  • The frontrunner all season on the women’s side, senior Emily Deschaine finished a fraction of a second off of a season best while in action in Yankton. Her fifth-place finish (out of 94 runners) marked her highest placement of the season. She completed the 5k course in 19:33.30. Her season best was 19:33.12 at the season-opening Dordt Classic. She also turned in a time of 19:56.22 at the Dean White Invite and clocked in at 20:07.83 on a course measured roughly 200 meters longer than a 5k at the Briar Cliff Invite.
  • Freshman Alyssa Fye appears primed to make a strong push for a national championships bid next week at the conference championships. A native of Randolph, Neb., Fye could jump into the team’s starring role next season when Deschaine has graduated. Fye recorded her first career top-10 finish last week, placing ninth with a time of 19:58.95 for a season best. It was nearly a minute faster than the time she turned in four weeks earlier in Crete. Fye has finished inside the top 30 at all four meets in her rookie season.
  • The rest of the team’s top 10 at the Mount Marty Invite included sophomore Rebekah Hinrichs (20:02.00; 10th), freshman Alyssa Bierwagen (20:58.64; 25th) and sophomore Sydney Clark (21:09.23; 27th), junior Jacy Johnston (21:11.80; 31st), sophomore Miranda Rathjen (21:25.41; 36th), freshmen Lydia Cook (21:31.04; 39th) and Tayler Gipe (21:41.21; 43rd) and junior Abby Protzman (21:47.77; 45th). The roster of competitors will have to be trimmed to 10 for the conference championships.
  • Junior Thomas Taylor continues to lead the charge on the men’s side. He placed 22nd overall (17th when excluding the unattached runners) with a time of 27:34.52 on the 8k Mount Marty Invite course. That figure was roughly 40 seconds slower than his season best of 26:55.69 at the Briar Cliff Invite. Taylor has put up place finishes of 11th, 10th, 19th and 22nd, respectively, this season.
  • The big mover in Yankton was freshman Christian Van Cleave. He clocked a season best of 28:12.42 and was the runner up among Bulldogs. Van Cleave had been running anywhere from sixth to eighth on the team through the first three meets of the season. He finished 31st overall out of the field of 104 male runners in the field.
  • The team’s Nos. 3 through 5 spots in Yankton were held down by seniors Pat Wortmann (28:18.34; 36th) and Kohlton Gabehart (28:19.82) and junior Evan Asche (28:46.65; 53rd). Just behind Asche, freshman Cody Williams turned in a personal best of 28:48.41 (54th). Rounding out the top 10 were four three freshmen, Christian Watters (29:46.06; 73rd), Patrick Schneeberger (30:06.52; 77th), Jayden Graham (30:13.94; 78th), and one junior, Cameron Moes (30:18.78; 80th).
  • Now it’s all about prepping for the upcoming GPAC championships, which will take place in Sioux Center, Iowa, on Saturday, Nov. 4. Both Bulldog squads have hopes of improving upon their sixth-place conference finishes in 2016. National championship bids will be on the line at the conference meet. Last season Deschaines qualified individually for nationals thanks to a ninth-place claim at the GPAC championships.