SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Seward side put in a late goal via Ricards Busmeisters but dropped the contest to Morningside (3-1) on Saturday night (Oct. 4). After a stalemate of rare shots in the first half, the Mustangs found a groove late to find two goals in the final minutes.
Head Coach Jason Weides and company move to 4-7 overall and break even in the conference (2-2).
“We didn’t have sustained possessions,” Coach Weides said. “We possessed in the defensive half and had great counter-attacks. The past two games had been better about getting our outside backs forward. In the first half, we struggled with individual ball retention. Morningside was able to out-physical us in every 50-50 ball and second-ball scenarios. We lost the ball in moments that we have to retain possession. We kept on battling and unfortunately, we made a big-time error on the second goal for Morningside. We are just bleeding too many goals right now.”
With a free kick inside the box, the Bulldogs’ Mike Wyvill was on the receiving end and drew a foul inside the 18-yard area. Busmeisters was given the 1-on-1 chance with the Morningside keeper and buried it in the bottom left corner. An Iowa Western transfer, Busmeisters notched his fifth goal of the season, which leads Concordia in 2025.
The Mustangs’ offense came alive in the final 10 minutes with 10 shots and two goals to show for it. Jordan Bickel and Javier Ruchelli tallied three shots apiece in the onslaught. Bickel scored two, with his second coming in the 89th minute, via a penalty.
In the first half, both teams could only muster three shots but one hit the back of the net for Morningside’s Guilherme Mota.
With the shot count even after the first half, the Mustangs would have a big advantage with 16- shots in the second frame to the Bulldogs’ 6. Morningside led in corner kicks (5-2) and fouls (15-11). Oliver Benson and Hugo Garrote were the two teammates to pace the visitors with two shots apiece.
Nolan Fuelberth punched out five saves but couldn’t keep the home team from scoring three inside Elwood Olsen Stadium. Timon Koerber grabbed five saves as well but was unable to perform a shutout of Concordia in the 90 minutes played.
The Mustangs’ Bickel had a game high four shots and scored his fourth and fifth goals of the campaign. Ten different Morningside players fired a shot as the squad moves to 4-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference. The Mustangs will host Dordt this upcoming Wednesday.
Concordia (4-7, 2-2 GPAC) will travel to Hastings (5-2-4, 1-1-2 GPAC) on Wednesday (Oct. 8). The Bulldogs will take the field at 5:30 p.m. CT. The two teams faced off last in the 2024 GPAC tournament championship as the Broncos took the final (1-0).