In elementary school, fellow teammates referred to Nolan Fuelberth as “The Wall.” Little did they know that Fuelberth would one day be named honorary captain of Nebraska’s Super State Team and earn a scholarship to an NCAA Division I program before eventually finding his happy place as one of the top goalkeepers in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. It all traces back to those days playing in youth rec leagues when The Wall stifled the opposition in whatever role asked of him.
A few years ago, Fuelberth nearly gave up the sport after a year of transition roughly 460 miles from his hometown of Lincoln. Unsure of the next move, Fuelberth just knew he wanted to return to the area.
“I didn’t even really want to keep playing soccer,” Fuelberth said. “I just wanted to go to school and that was that. It became, if I was going to do this, I was either going to Concordia or I was just going to go to school. It was kind of a toss in the dark. I put in my papers, and I texted Coach (Jason) Weides. The opportunity fell in place. I wanted to stay close to home, which is what brought me here to Concordia.”
What Fuelberth came to realize is that he hadn’t lost his passion for the game. He simply needed to find that place that felt right for him. Following a sterling 2024 campaign in goal for the Bulldogs, Fuelberth made the call to play yet another season. The Lincoln Southwest High School graduate wants to soak up a fifth season of college soccer, extending his collegiate career after walking across the stage at graduation in May.
Accounting degree in hand, Fuelberth could have ridden off into the sunset. Even as the 2024 season concluded, Fuelberth was undecided. Weides made recruiting Fuelberth back for another year a top priority. The experience sold itself. Fuelberth would have regretted not taking advantage of one more chance to play soccer and take on the GPAC grind with his teammates one last fall.
“I had no clue what I was doing,” Fuelberth said. “I had talked to Coach Weides in the spring of 2024. I was like – I don’t know what I want to do. I couldn’t make up my mind. It lasted all throughout summer and in the fall. I hadn’t made up my mind yet. I was so focused on the season and playing and competing. I hadn’t really given it a thought. After the season, I had to make up my mind. It was tough debating whether or not to come back. Ultimately, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I played this sport for 15 or 16 years. I just couldn’t leave it. If I have more left on the table, I might as well compete.”
Weides calls the return of Fuelberth “massive” in terms of what it means for the 2025 team. Said Weides, “Everybody has their own plans post-graduation. Since he had that extra year, we were more than willing to consider it and talk about what his options would look like because we knew he would be valuable, not just for what he can do in between the posts. He’s really emerged as a leader and an important part of our team culture. He’s a guy that’s really respected and revered. He was a really important recruit. At first it was a probably not, then a maybe, then probably and then it was an official yes. That was an exciting day.”
Concordia had always been in the picture for Fuelberth, who says the Bulldogs were his No. 2 choice coming out of Lincoln Southwest, where he spent his final two years of high school after beginning his prep career at Lincoln East. No question, Fuelberth possessed NCAA Division I talent. As a senior, he helped lead the Silverhawks to the state championship game. As part of that season, Fuelberth played 1,260 minutes and allowed only seven goals while making 72 saves.
As Southwest Head Coach Derek Scheich said of Fuelberth at the time, “Opposing coaches would most likely say he was a calming presence at the back who was very difficult to beat due to his positioning, strong hands and organization.”
Despite his credentials upon his transfer to Concordia in the fall of 2022, Fuelberth understood there were no guarantees in terms of playing time. He was walking into perhaps the deepest goalkeeper group in the program’s history. That ’22 season, Gabriel Mendoza and Federico Simonetti earned the lion's share of the playing time with Callum Goldsmith also making three starts. Of course, Fuelberth would have rather been out there himself, but he learned to take joy in the accomplishments of his teammates.
The 2022 Bulldogs went on to win the GPAC tournament title and earn a trip to Indiana for the first round of the NAIA National Championships. A save in PK’s by Simonetti completed a dramatic GPAC tournament title clash with Hastings in mid-November. Even though he watched from the sidelines, Fuelberth considers it one of his most thrilling moments of his soccer career.
“We weren’t looking for a goalkeeper at the time,” Weides says of Fuelberth’s arrival. “It just so happened he decided to transfer, and we didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity for a really good player. We knew he could come in and compete. We weren’t looking to put pressure on the guys we had. We were just trying to make the best team possible. Iron sharpens iron. I think that was the case. We brought on Nolan and everybody got better. We had some great goalkeeper battles. He continued to improve and he earned more and more time.”
Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, The Wall lived up to his moniker. In back-to-back seasons, with Fuelberth between the pipes, the Bulldogs have ranked at or near the top 10 nationally in terms of goals against average. They allowed 0.72 goals per game in 2023 and then 0.79 in 2024. Spanning the two seasons, Concordia has not dropped a single GPAC regular season game (13-0-8).
Given the chance, Fuelberth seized the moment. He had progressed tremendously from the freshman who began his college career at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill. There were times when Fuelberth felt scared to simply step into a training drill. A few short years later, Fuelberth paced all GPAC goalkeepers in save percentage (.783) and goals against average (0.87). In his time at Concordia, Fuelberth has worked with keeper coaches Michael McIntyre and Haakon Utesch.
“There are a lot of factors that play into it,” says Fuelberth of his immense growth. “There’s a certain level of maturity that you have to have not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. I hadn’t had that in previous years. I had to learn and grow into it. Ultimately, it’s a lot of coaching, learning and growing. I had to find a groove and my own playing style. The guys on the team have helped me get to that spot. Without the goalkeeper group that we’ve had during my time here, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. I wouldn’t have developed where I’m at. There are a lot of factors that have helped me get to this point.”
Not just a standout on the field, Fuelberth sports a near spotless grade-point average and was named an Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators this past fall. For Fuelberth, the option to play one more year made sense when paired with his academic career. He’ll soon begin graduate courses while working towards his CPA.
From a soccer perspective, Fuelberth will attempt to lead Concordia back to the GPAC Championship Game, where the program has landed five times since 2015, and to the national tournament. To get through the Bulldogs, the opposition must go through The Wall.
Says Weides, “When a returning player decides to come back for a fifth year, you know what you’re getting. We’re going to see him at his best. He’s only going to get better. I’m excited to see what that looks like.”
It’s assumed that Fuelberth will hold down the goalkeeper role all season, but he jokes that he could step in and play at right back. Jokes aside, Fuelberth is back at keeper, at least in part, because of the people who have impacted him at Concordia. Mature beyond his years, the analytical Fuelberth has a handle on what has made his experience special.
“I’ve talked on and on about the people,” Fuelberth said. “That’s the biggest thing – the people here and the relationships I’ve made with the people. It’s so incredible. It goes from coaches to professors to faculty and staff. I’ve met lifelong friends here. That’s one of the biggest things. It also has some of the greatest facilities I’ve seen. Even traveling to teams in other conferences, I don’t think the facilities anywhere else rival the ones here. Academically, we have some top professors. I care a lot about my academics and occupation after college. They’ve done a lot to get me to the point where I’m at.”