SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer will have gone 10 consecutive days without a game by the time it hosts its home opener on Wednesday evening. Head Coach Bernie Ochoa’s squad used last week for rest, recovery and additional training following the season opening road trip to Oklahoma. The Bulldogs remain in search of the season’s first win as they look ahead to matchups with in-state Bellevue University, William Penn University (Iowa) and a clash early next week with defending national champion Grand View University (Iowa).
This Week
Wednesday, Sept. 2 vs. Bellevue, 8 p.m. | Senior Day
--Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Bulldog Stadium (Seward, Neb.)
Saturday, Sept. 5 at No. 7 William Penn, 5 p.m.
--Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Drost Field (Oskaloosa, Iowa)
Monday, Sept. 7 at No. 1 Grand View, 1 p.m.
--Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Cownie Soccer Complex (Des Moines, Iowa)
By the numbers
• The coaching change did nothing to change expectations for Concordia heading into the 2026 season. The 2025 GPAC tournament champion Bulldogs were placed atop the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll. The Concordia Athletics Hall of Famer Bernie Ochoa plans to uphold the program’s high standards. During former Head Coach Jason Weides’ 18-year tenure, the Bulldogs won three GPAC tournament titles while reaching the conference championship final six times. The ’25 team broke through on the national stage by triumphing in penalty kicks on the way to the program’s first ever advanced to the second round of the national tournament.
• In the early season trip to Oklahoma, Concordia fell by scores of 2-1 at University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and then 5-0 at Mid-America Christian University. Throughout the two contests, Ochoa deployed 22 players, including three goalkeepers and 19 field players. The team’s lone goal came in the 25th minute at USAO when Felipe Silva Mendes found the back of the net. The shot counts favored the opponents – 14-12 for USAO and 18-3 for MACU.
• A healthy season from Sean Stratman will provide a boost on the back line. The Omaha native earned Second Team All-GPAC honors in 2024 before being limited to 11 games in 2025. Stratman was named Concordia’s Bulldog Athletics Association Member Male Athlete of the Week following the road trip to Oklahoma. From the 2025 team, Concordia said goodbye to six of eight GPAC All-Conference honorees. That leaves midfielder Hugo Garrote and center back Mike Wyvill as two of the most decorated returners.
• Of the 14 players who started at least one game on the road trip, four are newcomers: Lucas Montino, Sebastian Montino, Danilo Nikolic and Felipe Silva Mendes. Over the two contests in Oklahoma, the most minutes were logged by Sebastian Montino (166), Stratman (161), Garrote (156), Lucas Montino (155) and Niko Nareike (151).
• Both soccer programs have moved their senior days up in the calendar in recent seasons. As part of Wednesday’s senior day festivities, Concordia will pay tribute to seven seniors: Hugo Garrote, Jasper Hofland, Mattis Hollnagel, Niko Nareike, Kai Olbrich, Jason Payne and Mike Wyvill. The four-year Bulldogs have experienced plenty of success having been part of 2023 through 2026 squads that have posted a combined record of 33-16-14. The 2023 team (13-1-4) lost only one game all season and rose as high as No. 18 in the NAIA coaches’ poll. Meanwhile, both the ’24 and ’25 teams advanced to the GPAC Championship Game.
The opponents
The Bruins of Bellevue, Neb., have been a regular on the nonconference schedule. Last season, Concordia was edged, 1-0, at Bellevue, and dropped to 1-5 at the time (before recovering for a GPAC championship run). The Bruins had their string of seven straight national tournament appearances snapped last season when they were defeated by Georgia Gwinnett College in the Continental Athletic Conference Championship Game, 3-0. They finished last season at 10-8-2 overall. So far this season, Bellevue is 1-2 with a win over Dakota Wesleyan and losses to Benedictine College (Kan.) and MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.). Mark Heath-Preston is in his 11th season as head coach.
William Penn has elevated its program in a big way in recent years. The Statesmen carry an active string of six straight national tournament appearances into this season. William Penn landed at No. 7 in the NAIA preseason coaches’ poll after reaching the national tournament final site (quarterfinals) in Orange Beach, Ala., last season. The Statesmen were the 2024 NAIA national runners up. Following the ’24 campaign, Joe Minton was promoted from an assistant to the head coaching role. So far this season, William Penn pummeled Morningside, 7-1, and tied with Rocky Mountain College (Mont.), 0-0. Javier Perez turned in a hat trick in the win over the Mustangs.
Grand View opened this season at No. 1 in the NAIA coaches’ poll after winning the program’s first ever national championship in 2025. It was an especially storybook season considering Head Coach David Groves’ ’25 squad was picked near the bottom of the Heart of America Athletic Conference and then entered the national tournament unseeded. From last season’s team, the Vikings lost NAIA National Player of the Year Kevin Ventura, but they return All-Americans in goalkeeper Luis Helm and forward Justin Figaroa. In its opening week of the ’26 season, Grand View lost at home to Rocky Mountain College and then played to a 0-0 draw with Morningside. Concordia traveled to Grand View in 2024 and came away with a 1-1 tie.
Next week
Following next Monday (Sept. 5)’s matchup with Grand View, the Bulldogs will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 12 with a short drive to York University. It will mark the final nonconference match of the regular season.