Bulldog Weekly Report (Sept. 4)

By Jacob Knabel on Sep. 4, 2018 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Martin, a senior from Longmont, Colo., has been a key figure on the attack for the Bulldogs. She has already racked up four assists, including one in last week’s 1-1 draw with MidAmerica Nazarene. Martin earned second team all-conference honors in 2017.

Male: JP Verissimo, Soccer

Verissimo, a sophomore from Nova Mutum, Brazil, has provided solid minutes in his second season as a Bulldog. His elevated play allowed the Bulldogs to hang tight with undefeated Bellevue last week. Verissimo has one assist to his credit in 2018.

News and notes:

Concordia named Gold Level Champions of Character Five-Star Institution: For the third year in a row, Concordia University has been named a Gold Level Champions of Character Five-Star Institution, as announced by the NAIA on Aug. 30. This also marks the ninth-consecutive year that the Bulldogs have achieved one of the three levels of five-star institutions. For more on the honor given out for 2017-18 performance, click HERE.

Bulldog football opens season on Saturday: The 93rd season of Concordia football will kick off on Saturday when head coach Patrick Daberkow’s squad welcomes NCAA Division III Buena Vista University (Iowa) to Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CT. For those not in attendance on Saturday, the game can be viewed live via the Concordia Sports Network. All 10 games this season will also be aired on 104.9 Max Country, the official radio home of Bulldog athletics. For our season preview on Concordia football, click HERE.

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

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

Volleyball

The Bulldogs enter the week as one of 17 NAIA volleyball squads without a blemish on their records. Concordia has put together back-to-back 4-0 weeks to open up 2018 with a sparkling 8-0 record. In last week’s action, all occurring inside Walz Arena, the Bulldogs toppled Kansas Wesleyan University, Bethany College (Kan.), Valley City State University (N.D.) and Benedictine College (Kan.). The latter three were made victims as part of the weekend Bulldog Bash (Aug. 31-Sept. 1). First-year head coach Ben Boldt’s squad still hasn’t dropped a single set. For more on Concordia volleyball, click HERE.
This marks the program’s first 8-0 start to a season since the 2005 team stormed out to an 18-0 record for then head coach Rachel Miller. That ’05 group needed 25 sets to get through its first eight victories. In the GPAC era (2000-present), the 2018 squad is the only Bulldog edition to win eight in a row with each victory ending in straight sets. Of the undefeated NAIA teams that have played at least five matches, Concordia and Park (Mo.) (5-0) are the only ones that have not lost a set.
While the strength of schedule is not exceptionally high (175th out of 221 NAIA teams, according to Massey Ratings), the Bulldogs have been surprisingly dominant coming off a 9-19 campaign last season. While featuring a variety of attacking options, Concordia is hitting .279, good for seventh best in the nation. The Bulldogs also rank favorably nationally in several other key categories, checking in at 22nd in blocks per game (2.17), 31st in kills per game (13.0) and 39th in service aces per game (2.08).
The team’s most reliable attacker to this point has been Jenna Habegger, who has piled up 84 kills (4.0 per game) and is hitting .333 from the outside. She added 37 kills last week despite being rested for three of the team’s 12 sets. Concordia has other options, including four additional players with more than 35 kills each: Alex La Plant (52), Arleigh Costello (49), Emmie Noyd (39) and Morgan Nibbe (38). They’ve helped the Bulldogs outnumber their opponents by a combined total of 312-242 in kills.
One key to the early season success has been a cut back on errors. The 2017 Bulldogs averaged 5.82 attack errors per set and 2.53 service errors per set. Those numbers have decreased to 4.17 and 2.25, respectively, so far in 2018. Habegger’s improved production certainly has factored into those statistics. Last season Habegger had an attack error on 15.1 percent of her attempts. She’s slashed that number down to 10.4 percent in 2018.
This is shaping up to be a nice season in the back row for defensive specialist Marissa Hoerman, whose role has expanded in her sophomore season. She’s averaging 4.54 digs per set (up from 2.43 last season) after a solid week at home. In the Aug. 31 win over Bethany, Hoerman loaded up with a career best 27 digs. She has also passed serve receive at a 97.9 percent clip, a significant jump as compared to her freshman year.
At the setter position, Concordia has continued to rotate Tara Callahan and Kaci Hohenthaner. Both have unique skillsets. Callahan can also be a weapon as an attacker (11 kills on 21 attempts this season) and blocker (17 blocks) while Hohenthaner can contribute defensively (42 digs) from the back row and from the service line (11 aces compared to one service error). A junior Hohenthaner is in her first season in the program after transferring from Iowa Western Community College.
The depth of the roster was on display last week. Sophomore Allison Echtenkamp saw the first varsity action of her career on Sept. 1 and responded with six kills and five blocks over six sets of playing time in wins over Valley City State and Benedictine. Lauren Cope also appeared in the win over Bethany before going down with an injury. Additionally, sophomore Anna Lund (out with an injury to begin the season) has begun suiting up. In Cope’s absence, freshman Kayla Ernstmeyer wore No. 18 on Sept. 1, though she did not appear in either match.
For the third week in a row, the Bulldogs have a busy four-match week. It gets started by hosting College of Saint Mary (8-5, 0-0 GPAC) in the conference opener tonight (Sept. 4) at 7:30 p.m. CT. GPAC play will continue on Friday (7:30 p.m.) when Mount Marty (2-3, 0-0 GPAC) visits Walz Arena. Concordia will then play twice against nonconference foes on Saturday – McPherson College (Kan.) (9-0) and Kansas Wesleyan University (7-3) – at the Five Points Bank Classic hosted by Hastings. Match times are 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

Last week’s pair of contests versus in-state nonconference foes resulted in a pair of 2-1 losses for a program that endured just three defeats during the entire 2017 season. The Bulldogs suffered a rare downer to York College in York in last week’s matchup on Aug. 28. Four days later Concordia played solidly before slipping versus Bellevue University, who remains undefeated through its first six games of the campaign. Eleventh-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad now stands at 1-2 overall. For more information on Bulldog men’s soccer, click HERE.
Concordia had not dropped a contest against York since 2007, prior to Weides’ tenure as head coach. The two rivals have played on an annual basis in a longtime running series. During the 10-game series win streak for the Bulldogs, they outscored the Panthers by a combined total of 47-8. The latest meeting culminated in a 2-1 York win despite Concordia having an 11-6 advantage in the shot count. The Panthers also own a victory over Doane.
Though it went down as a loss, Weides came away from the Bellevue game feeling better than he had four days earlier. The Bruins already had a win in hand over the NAIA’s preseason seventh-ranked Columbia College (Mo.) entering last week’s clash. The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead over Bellevue on Carlos Ferrer’s 54th minute goal and held into the 73rd minute until Inaki Aldao equalized for the Bruins. Less than two minutes later Bellevue tacked on the game winner by Toby Millward and escaped Bulldog Stadium victoriously. Even still, it was a solid effort by Concordia, which outshot the Bruins, 17-15.
David Carrasco jumped into the starting lineup for the first time in his career in the game versus Bellevue. A forward from Bogota, Colombia, Carrasco has emerged as a newfound source of attacking punch. He pushed across a goal apiece in both of the first two games of the season. Through three games, he is the lone Bulldog with more than one goal. Jack Arra, Ferrer, Roger de la Villa and Konrad Sinu have each notched one goal on the year. There should be more to come for Ferrer, who now has 10 goals in his Bulldog career.
Concordia remains in search of its first clean sheet of the campaign. It should only be a matter of time considering the presence of senior goalkeeper Jack Bennett, a second team All-GPAC choice in 2017. During last season’s record-breaking run (16 victories), the Bulldogs recorded nine shutouts (16th most in the nation). So far in 2018, Concordia has conceded exactly two goals in each of its three outings.
Weides remains two wins shy of reaching 100 for his career. He is on the brink of becoming just the second coach in program history to achieve that standard (the other being longtime head coach Jack Kinworthy). Weides now stands at 98-80-18 since becoming head coach in 2008. He has led the program to the GPAC tournament final in each of the last three seasons. His hallmark moment was the 2015 upset of Hastings in the conference championship game, which clinched a spot in the national tournament.
The 2015 squad was an example of one that overcame a stretch of tough luck. That team started out 1-3-1 in conference play with the third loss coming by a 3-0 score at home. The 2015 Bulldogs then lost only once more before the national tournament defeat at second-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University. The 2015 team got the ball rolling on what’s become an annual march to the GPAC tournament title game.
Concordia now has a mid-week bye before hitting the road on Saturday when the Bulldogs will be in Salina, Kan., to take on Kansas Wesleyan University (1-0) in a kickoff slated for 3 p.m. CT. The Coyotes will still have played just one time by Saturday’s matchup. They defeated Antelope Valley (Calif.), 2-0, on Aug. 31. The next home game for the Bulldogs is set for Sept. 12.

Women’s Soccer

The second week of the season was a light one for the Bulldogs, who played to a 1-1 double overtime draw in a home contest with MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) on Aug. 29. The result was similar to the 2-2 tie between the two programs that occurred in August 2016. Concordia’s only other contest so far this fall resulted in a 4-1 victory over Tabor College (Kan.) in the season opener on Aug. 25. Sixth-year head coach Greg Henson’s squad is now 1-0-1 overall. For more information on Bulldog women’s soccer, click HERE.
Though Concordia was on the wrong end of the penalty kick shootout in last year’s GPAC tournament championship game, that contest officially went down as a tie. Thus, Concordia still has not lost a match since a 2-1 overtime defeat at Graceland University (Iowa) on Sept. 9, 2017. Since then, the Bulldogs have gone 13-0-4. Included in that stretch were wins over two opponents with national rankings at the time games were played – No. 18 Midland and No. 20 Hastings. Concordia has not suffered a loss to a GPAC opponent since Oct. 12, 2016 (21 games in a row).
Freshman Victoria Cera got on the board with her first goal of the season in last week’s contest. Her impressive strike gave the Bulldogs the lead in the 26th minute. They held that advantage until the Pioneers found the back of the net in the 57th minute. The shot count was just about even between two programs that both reached the national tournament in 2016. MidAmerica Nazarene is coming off of a 9-7-2 overall record in 2017.
Henson is still looking for a top goal scorer to emerge, although it could end up being senior Maria Deeter once again. She paced the 2017 team with 10 goals and 10 assists. She was hardly the only threat. Six other players added five goals or more, including current sophomore Kaitlyn Radebaugh, whose status is a question mark moving forward this season due to injury. Deeter’s 25 career goals are tops on the team.
Senior Lauren Martin figures to contribute to the offensive attack all season. The Longmont, Colo., native has assisted four of the team’s five goals this season (the only goal she wasn’t involved in was an own goal). Martin also has the ability to put the ball into the back of the net herself. She tallied six goals last season and has eight in her career at Concordia, which began with her sophomore season in 2016. Only four players nationally have more assists than Martin so far this season.
A shutout has not yet been recorded, but it should happen soon for a Bulldog program that allowed only one goal during the entire GPAC regular season in 2017. Concordia allowed just 14 goals all of last season (11 were surrendered in the first eight games of the season). Goalkeeper Lindsey Carley, the reigning GPAC Defensive Player of the Year, ranked No. 8 nationally in goals against average (0.490) in 2017.
Henson has used the same starting 11 for the first two games of the season. It has included four seniors, one junior, three sophomores and three freshmen. The rookies who have cracked the lineup are Madeline Haugen, Mikeila Martinez and Cheyenne Smith. Deeter and the rest of an accomplished senior class have helped the program to a combined record of 45-13-8 since arriving at Concordia prior to the 2015 season.
Two more nonconference tilts are coming up this week. The Bulldogs will play at home for the third-straight time when McPherson College (Kan.) (0-2) visits Seward for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff on Wednesday. Then on Saturday, Concordia faces its first road test when it visits Kansas Wesleyan University (2-0) in a match set for a 1 p.m. start. The Coyotes have already defeated two GPAC opponents in Northwestern and Dordt.

Cross Country

The 2018 season got started earlier in the calendar than in past years with a rare night-time race to kick things off. The Bulldogs were one of 23 teams on the men’s side and one of 25 on the women’s side to compete in the Augustana University Twilight in Sioux Falls, S.D. The event featured lighted course measured out as a 5k for the women and a 7k for the men. Out of the field that included NAIA and NCAA Division I, II and III squads, head coach Matt Beisel’s runners placed 12th for women and 16th for men. For more on Concordia cross country, click HERE.
There are no official preseason coaches’ polls released by the GPAC for cross country, but the NAIA published its conference preseason ratings on Aug. 28. In the GPAC ratings, the Bulldogs were listed at No. 5 on the women’s side and No. 7 on the men’s side. Those rankings are reflective of last year’s GPAC championship meet that saw Concordia’s women finish fifth and the men sixth. The only difference in the 2018 preseason ranking was that new member Jamestown jumped in front of the Bulldogs on the men’s side.
Senior Taylor Grove led the way for the women’s squad at the Augustana Twilight while making her first appearance at a cross country meet since the GPAC championships her sophomore year. She was sidelined last fall due to an injury that occurred in the summer. In her return, Grove finished the 5k race in 19:23.67, placing her 47th out of 277 runners. Followed by Grove in the team’s top seven were freshman Abi DeLoach (20:01.54; 84th), juniors Rebekah Hinrichs (20:36.28; 123rd) and Miranda Rathjen (20:51.89; 133rd), senior Jacy Johnston (21:02.82; 143rd) and sophomores Lydia Cook (21:06.69; 146th) and Sydney Clark (21:10.41; 151st).
A native of Lamar, Colo., Wyatt Lehr appears to be the real deal as a rookie. He outran each of his teammates at the Blue-White run on Aug. 25 and then backed that performance up with a nice showing in Sioux Falls. The men’s race covered 7k instead of the usual 8k. Lehr finished in 23:39.85, putting him in 92nd place out of 266 runners. Lehr was followed in the Bulldog lineup by senior Thomas Taylor (23:56.87; 110th), sophomore Christian Van Cleave (24:09.41; 118th), senior Evan Asche (24:56.25; 148th), sophomores Patrick Schneeberger (24:58.51; 152nd) and Jordan Lorenz (25:13.74; 164th) and freshman Ethan Pankow (25:20.08; 169th).
Grove and the women’s team fared well compared to comparative competition, placing third among the 10 NAIA squads and third out of the eight GPAC teams in attendance. The Bulldogs beat out the likes of Dakota Wesleyan, Mount Marty, Doane, Briar Cliff and Midland. On the men’s side, Concordia placed fifth out of nine NAIA schools. Lehr and the men outraced Morningside, Briar Cliff and Dakota Wesleyan.
In looking purely at the 2017 GPAC championships, Beisel returns the bulk of his top runners from last season. In terms of GPAC finishes, the top five returners for the men are Taylor (18th), Asche (34th), Van Cleave (38th), Lorenz (54th) and Christian Watters (64th). The top five women’s returners are Alyssa Fye (18th), Hinrichs (29th), Alyssa Bierwagen (40th), Everett Elder (47th) and Rathjen (50th). Grove placed 31st at the 2016 GPAC championships.
Throughout much of the season, Concordia will alternate on and off weeks. The Bulldogs will not compete this week. Next up for them is the Bronco Stampede hosted by Hastings on Sept. 15. The race will take place at Lake Hastings Park and get underway at 10 a.m. CT. Including last week’s Augustana Twilight, there are five official meets before the GPAC championships on Nov. 3.

Golf

The season is underway for the women’s program under the direction of eighth-year head coach Brett Muller. The women got started last week at the two-day Mount Marty Fall Invite in Yankton, S.D., Aug. 30-31. A rough second day caused the Bulldogs to slip from third to eighth place out of the 11 teams (all GPAC) in the field. Meanwhile, the men were scheduled to be in action today (Sept. 4) as a co-host with Doane for the annual Blue River Classic. That tournament was wiped away due to ominous forecasts. A makeup has not been announced. For more information on the Bulldog golf programs: Men | Women.
After placing 10th in the GPAC last season, the women’s program expects to make a jump up the conference standings. The Bulldogs showed the potential to go low by carding a 344 on the first day of the Mount Marty Invite. The number was well below the 2017-18 team’s scoring average of 376.44. Unfortunately, Concordia slumped to 390 on the second day with higher scores across the board in its lineup. The 344 was just off the 2017-18 team low of 343 turned in back in April.
One reason for optimism moving forward is the addition of freshman Kendra Placke to the lineup. Placke enjoyed a stellar prep career at Seward High School, where she recorded state place finishes of 10th, first, second and third, respectively. Placke also made a good first impression in her collegiate debut. She shot a four-over-par 76 on the opening day of the Mount Marty Invite. She followed with an 87 on day two and tied for fourth place on the individual leaderboard. Placke teams up with junior Murphy Sears to give Concordia a stellar combo at the top of the lineup.
Sears ended up tying for 18th place out of the 65 golfers in Yankton. She shot an uncharacteristically high 97 on the second day of the tournament. That followed an 80 on day one. That performance was much more in line with what the Crete native did as a sophomore when she posted a scoring average of 83.36 and even won an NAIA National Golfer of the Week award. Out of 14 rounds in 2017-18, Sears shot scores of 90 or higher only twice. Her career low still stands at 73, which she carded at last season’s CSM/Midland Invite.
Next in line within the team’s group of five at the Mount Marty Invite were freshman Britney Jepsen (91-104 – 195; 44th), junior Paighton Barbre (97-102–199; 50th) and freshman DJ Bokelman (97-107–204; 56th). Senior Madison Pitsch (106-103–209; 60th) also competed individually. The development of Placke and the freshman class will have a lot to do with how much the program improves throughout the fall and spring.
The men’s lineup will also have a different look to it this season. The holdovers are senior Nolan Zikas and junior Tylar Samek, both regulars in the 2017-18 lineup. Zikas made an immediate impact the moment he stepped onto the course in Bulldog blue. He’s on the verge of becoming the program’s all-time record holder for lowest scoring average. Over 48 career rounds, Zikas has a scoring average of 76.15. His average of 74.69 led last year’s squad by nearly 2.5 strokes. Samek shot an average of 79.44 over his 16 rounds in 2017-18.
Newcomers will be counted upon to keep Concordia competitive within the GPAC. Included in the mix are transfers Devin Koob (North Iowa Area CC), Joshua Schaefer (North Iowa Area CC) and Colton Zulkoski (McCook CC). Each of them were national qualifiers last season at the National Junior College Athletic Association level. Their arrivals will help the Bulldogs replace three lineup regulars from 2017-18: Tyler Ehresman, Russell Otten and Kort Steele.
Instead of competing in the Blue River Classic, the men will now play at the Briar Cliff Fall Invite in North Sioux City, Iowa, on Wednesday. It will be a shotgun start at 11 a.m. CT. On the other hand, the women will not compete this week. They will return to action on Monday, Sept. 10 at the Midland Fall Invite (Fremont Golf Club).