SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer welcomed powerhouse Columbia College (Mo.) and went toe to toe before falling 1-0 on Saturday night (Aug. 23). The Bulldogs looked dazed in opening minutes gathering their bearings in the second half but couldn’t find the final touch in the box. CUNE had eight new faces hit the field for the lineups’ 2025 debut.
“We grew into the game a little bit,” said Coach Weides. “We struggled the first 20 minutes of the match. Uncharacteristically, we had our blinders on and were panicking a bit on the build. We weren’t seeing the options. We talked about beating the first line of confrontation. We came out and had a few chances in the second half. It just galvanized the team a bit. The guys responded well.”
Early game jitters came out for the Bulldogs as the Cougars fired off shots in the first 22 minutes and connected on the fourth. Columbia’s Harry Stephen put the shot in the back of the net after a failed set piece fell at his feet. The visitors were held to two more for the rest of the half.
Concordia ended the first frame with shots fired off by Hugo Garrote and newcomer Jasper Hofland. Kondwani Mtawali had the most dangerous shot for the Dawgs, putting a header just above the bar with the goalkeeper for the Cougars out of place. The senior out of Lilongwe, Malawi delivered the chance in the 75th minute playing the most significant minutes of his career.
The Bulldogs ended the second period with three boots towards the goal via Sam Hamilton, Milo Hegarty and Sean Stratman but came up shy in the final minutes.
The Seward side totaled six shots, while giving up 11 to Columbia. Filled with six cards and given and 32 total fouls (13 by CUNE), the match was chippy throughout the entire contest.
Concordia boasted newcomers and players with bigger roles such as captain Slade Leicht, Ryan Brown, Kai Olbrich and Mattis Hollnagel. The newcomers who gave us a first look were Hegarty, Hamilton, Brody Haynie, Cleme Suarez, Jasper Hofland, Noah Rakowsky and Connor Robbins.
Columbia relied on Stephen’s unassisted goal to win the game and pushed for 13 corners to Concordia’s six. Goalkeeper Caden Hof tallied one save in the 90 minutes between the posts. The Cougars will face Missouri Valley College on the road on Tuesday.
Concordia will battle William Woods University (Mo.) in Fulton, Missouri on Thursday (Aug. 28). The Dawgs kick off at 1 p.m. at the North Campus Athletic Complex.