SEWARD, Neb. – The Bulldogs have earned consecutive wins going into the first full week of conference competition. Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer will be in opposition to Doane and Morningside in the coming days. The Seward side is 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the GPAC after a Dordt shutout (2-0) to open conference play.
This Week
Wednesday, Sept. 23 at Doane (1-3-2, 0-1 GPAC), 7 p.m.
--Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Papik Field (Crete, Neb.)
Saturday, Sept. 26 vs. Morningside (2-3-3, 1-0 GPAC), 5 p.m.
--Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Bulldog Stadium (Seward, Neb.)
By the numbers
• Joe McCarroll stuck his foot out to score on a dime from Kai Olbrich which put the Bulldogs up early over the Defenders. In the 63rd minute, Sebastian Montino scored the insurance goal to give Concordia confidence for the finishing portion of the contest. The visitors used an extra man advantage to sure up the win in Sioux Center, making the most of the five shots on goal. Florian Quast collected four saves and his second shutout of the season (Bellevue). Quast, along with Michael Wyvill and Sean Stratman, played the entire 90 minutes.
• Bernie Ochoa inherited one of the most challenging nonconference slates the program has ever faced. According to Massey Ratings, Concordia has played the NAIA’s 17th most difficult schedule through this past weekend. The Bulldogs’ six nonconference foes and one GPAC competitor have combined for a 27-15-11 record so far this season. In the NAIA RPI, CUNE is rated 60th with a strength of schedule at 34th. The slate has included two teams that appeared in national championship games over the past two years: 2024 NAIA runner up William Penn University (Iowa) and 2025 NAIA national champion Grand View University (Iowa). Concordia managed to pick up a win over a perennial national qualifier in Bellevue University, another over a York University team that started 3-0 and in-conference Dordt.
• Goalkeeper Florian Quast earned the first GPAC player of the week award for Concordia and the first of his career. The 6-foot-7 human shield recorded four saves in the shutout against Dordt. The Hochheim, Germany, native has 22 saves in 405 minutes played in the net. A first-year transfer from Milligan University (Tenn.), Quast has warranted a .759 save percentage and a 1.56 goals allowed average. He has a 2-2 record thus far with a game high five saves versus Bellevue and Grand View University (Iowa).
• On the season, seven different Bulldogs have scored exactly one goal apiece. Sebastian Montino is the only Bulldog to have scored two this season. In addition to the goal scorers mentioned from the win at Dordt, a goal each has been notched by Hugo Garrote, Kai Olbrich, Karlo Rodriguez, William Preston, Stratman and Felipe Silva Mendes. The leading returner goal scorer from last season, Jasper Hofland (five goals in 2025), remains in search of his first goal this fall. A senior from Bennington, Neb., Olbrich recorded the 10th goal of his career as part of the home win over Bellevue. A 2025 Second Team All-GPAC honoree, Garrote has produced five goals and seven assists in 47 career games as a Bulldog. Five have assists including Danilo Nikolic, Preston, Milo Hegarty, Kai Olbrich and Hofland.
• Through seven games, the Bulldogs have given up 14 goals (2.00 GAA) from a .130 percentage clip. The back line has allowed 53 shots but with .491 shot on goal rate. Opposing teams have averaged 15.4 shots per game and two penalty goals. Teams have put together a total of 31 corner kicks compared to the Bulldogs’ 23.
• Placed at No. 1 in the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll, the Bulldogs aspire to make a run at the program’s first ever GPAC regular season championship. In the previous 18 years under the direction of Head Coach Jason Weides (now Concordia’s women’s soccer coach), Concordia placed second in the regular season in 2017, 2022 and 2024. The program celebrated GPAC tournament championships in 2015, 2022 and 2025 and also placed as the conference tournament runner up in 2016, 2017 and 2024. The Bulldogs have finished at .500 or better in league play in every year since 2013. Concordia, Morningside, Northwestern, Briar Cliff and Mount Marty all won their first games in GPAC action.
The opponents
Doane has posted a 1-3-2 overall record dropping their first game in conference (3-0) to the Mustangs. The Tigers are 1-1 inside Papik Field with the win coming at the expense of Kansas Christian College (4-1). They scored seven goals in six games with 13.5 shots fired per contest. Doane owns a .086 shot percentage and .444 shot on goal rate, while allowing 2.50 goals every 90 minutes. Of the seven finishes, six have come from sophomore Mateo Jelicich. The midfielder owns 17 shots and a .353 shot percentage. He completed a hat trick against KCC in the victory in Crete. All five assists have came from a different player. Gabriel Lara is the continued keeper for the orange and black with 487 minutes played. He has 29 saves with a .707 save percentage giving up 12 goals.
Morningside has a 2-3-3 overall record and the previously mentioned win against Doane. The Mustangs will travel in-city to Briar Cliff on Wednesday before facing the Dawgs in Seward. Morningside tied common-opponent Grand View (0-0) earlier in its non-conference schedule. The Mustangs have scored 12 goals averaging 1.5 scores per contest on 12.6 shots fired per 90 minutes. They have shot a .119 percentage with their lead finishers having three goals apiece via Mengistu Schmidt and Kyriacos Savva. Schmidt leads the team with eight points on 18 shots taken. Hernan Burdiles has started all eight games in the net with a .600 save percentage. He has 18 saves and two shutouts.
Next week
Conference play will intensify next week with the Bulldogs scheduled to play at Doane on Sept. 23 before returning home to host Morningside on Sept. 26. Nine of the season’s first 11 regular season games will take place on the road before four of the final five are staged inside Bulldog Stadium.