McPHERSON, Kan. – The Concordia University men’s soccer team and McPherson College (Kan.) experienced déjà vu on Wednesday (Sept. 11) in McPherson, Kan. The two sides played to the exact same result as they did in 2018 in Seward. Concordia again celebrated a 3-2 overtime win over McPherson with Roger de la Villa accounting for the golden goal.
Twelfth-year head coach Jason Weides and his squad never could get too comfortable in this road clash with the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference foe. Concordia never had more than a one-goal lead, but it accomplished what it set out to do and ran its record to 4-0.
“You never want to find yourself in overtime but once you get there, it’s a bit of a gut check,” Weides said. “It kind of just comes down to desire and intensity. We were pleased to see that. Our guys showed that right away in overtime. We twice lost a lead so it was good to see us be resilient. It’s a game where we had to grind it out. It wasn’t always perfect, but we did just enough.”
Both squads took their chances well. McPherson converted on both of its shots on goal while Concordia scored on three of its four shots on goal. The visitors had three unique goal scorers with freshman Isaiah Shaddick (26’), senior Carlos Ferrer (82’) and senior Roger de la Villa (93’) each getting into the act. Ferrer assisted Shaddick’s goal and then Shaddick returned the favor by finding Ferrer late in regulation.
Justus Koehler buried both McPherson goals in ensuring Concordia would have to sweat this one out. Assisted by Moises Jacobo, de la Villa knocked in the fourth game winning goal of his Bulldog career to ignite a celebration.
“It was a game of not a lot of chances for either team,” Weides said. “Neither team had a lot of real quality chances. The two chances they had they put away. There are games sometimes where you have to be efficient. It was kind of a battle in the midfield.”
Weides went on to laud a back line that played without senior center back Evan Hayden. Weides also complimented the performances of the players off the bench. Concordia has had the confidence to go five or more deep off the bench early this season.
Concordia is now 4-0 for the first time under Weides. The 2017 Bulldogs were 3-0-1 after four games and then 10-0-1 after 11 contests on their way to a school record 16 victories. Concordia will need to knock off Bellevue University (Sept. 17) and Kansas Wesleyan University (Sept. 25) in order to sweep through its nonconference slate.
The Bulldogs have a lengthier road trip coming up this weekend with a visit to Aberdeen, S.D., where they will take on Presentation (1-3, 0-2 GPAC). The Saints are still winless in GPAC action since becoming a soccer only member prior to the 2018 season. In last season’s meeting, Concordia downed Presentation, 7-0, in Seward.