Head Coach: Jason Weides (171-108-46, 18th season)
2024 Record: 8-3-9 overall; 6-0-4 GPAC (2nd)
Key Returners: F Oliver Benson; D Ryan Brown; GK Nolan Fuelberth; MF Hugo Garrote; D Mattis Hollnagel; MF Slade Leicht; F Kai Olbrich; D Sean Stratman; D Adrian Wambua; D Michael Wyvill.
Key Losses: D Iker Casanova; D Ferdi Hagen; F Youseff Heggy; D Jarrod Henson; F Martin Herrera; F Carter Hinman; MF Spencer Kaufman; D Michael Lindberg; GK Gabriel Mendoza; F Aidan Nachi; MF Okan Erkocu; MF Braden Spath; F D’Andre Williams; F Ryan Wokutch.
2024 GPAC All-Conference: Iker Casanova (Defensive Player of the Year; First Team); Ferdi Hagen (First Team); Martin Herrera (First Team); Nolan Fuelberth (Second Team); Sean Stratman (Second Team); D’Andre Williams (Second Team); Ryan Wokutch (Second Team); Michael Wyvill (Honorable Mention).
Outlook
There’s been no time to waste this preseason for Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer, which is in the process of breaking in 16 newcomers to a roster characterized by transformation. But make no mistake, the Bulldogs are not rebuilding. Head Coach Jason Weides refuses to use such terminology for a program that has placed no lower than sixth in the GPAC in any of the previous 12 seasons. A model of consistency since Weides took the reins beginning in 2008, Concordia expects to compete at the top of the GPAC on an annual basis.
In other words, this is nothing new for Weides (entering year 18), who now must replace GPAC Defensive Player of the Year Iker Casanova, star midfielder Ferdi Hagen and leading goal scorer Martin Herrera, among others. The Bulldogs are confident they have the right amount of talent and the right young men in place to meet the challenge.
“We come in with the belief and the mindset as a coaching staff and as players and collectively as a team, we don’t have rebuilding years,” Weides said. “We have reloading years. I think that’s kind of what this is for us. We graduated a really large class and a lot of significant impact players. I think maybe that’s a little scary for the team initially. There are so many new guys, and you don’t know what that looks like with the personalities and skillsets and bringing that all together. We have an opportunity to take a step forward from a really good team last year and the year before. We really like what we’re seeing so far, not just on the field, tactically or technically, but I like the culture. I feel like it’s a tight-knit group.”
Since winning the GPAC tournament title at Hastings in dramatic fashion in 2022, Concordia put itself right in the thick of conference regular title races in 2023 and 2024. The Bulldogs carry a 26-game GPAC regular season unbeaten streak (16-0-10) into the fall while having placed in the top three of the GPAC standings in each of the past three seasons. A hallmark of recent Concordia sides has been its ability to stifle the opposition – just 29 goals allowed over the previous 38 matches.
Weides’ program scored a major win following the ’24 campaign when goalkeeper Nolan Fuelberth (May 2025 grad) elected to use his final season of eligibility. His presence gives the Bulldogs a strong chance of repeating their success on the defensive end. Fuelberth is one of 10 returning players who saw action in at least 10 games last season. That group includes fellow 2024 GPAC All-Conference honorees in defenders Sean Stratman and Michael Wyvill.
Considering those familiar faces, Concordia has the luxury of being able to build from the back. Said Weides, “Both of those guys have taken steps forward in that (communication piece). They did that in the spring and continue to do it early on in preseason. Sean Stratman, I feel like, his communication is five times what it was last fall. Even though Mike was a sophomore last year, I think he was still coming into his own. It was his first year of a lot of minutes. Last year was his time to become an experienced player. He just looks more comfortable and confident this year. I expect big things from all those guys.”
In the act of bringing together returners and newcomers, Concordia is rallying behind the mantra of “uncommon.” The term applies to everything the team is doing on and off the field.
Explains senior midfielder Slade Leicht, “That’s from Coach Weides. It’s really simple, but it’s supposed to apply to everything we do. We’re not settling for the ordinary or settling for what everyone else would be doing. We’re supposed to be doing what’s uncommon – stay late after practice and help keep our locker room clean. That’s uncommon for us. We’re not very good at that, but we’re trying to change that this year. It’s the little things. We’re trying to do the little things well and that will sum up to the big things.”
In Weides’ mind, achieving ‘big things’ begins with a focus on the defensive side. In addition to Stratman and Wyvill, the back line returns Adrian Wambua and his 49 games of collegiate experience. The position also includes others with experience in the form of Ryan Brown, Mattis Hollnagel and Kondwani Mtawali. In the midfield, Leicht will attempt to earn playing time along with holdovers such as Hugo Garrote.
From an attacking standpoint, Weides will be looking for productive goal scorers to emerge in place of departed strikers in Herrera (11 goals), D’Andre Williams (four goals, six assists) and Ryan Wokutch (six goals). The team’s top returning goal scorer is Bennington, Neb., native Oliver Benson, who found the back of the net four times in 2024. A fellow junior, Kai Olbrich seeks an increased role after notching three goals last season.
“We have the opportunity for one person to score a lot of goals, but I think this could be a team where there are a lot of guys scoring goals,” Weides said. “I hope we can get a few guys to that 10-goal mark. I think that’s where you start to see really successful seasons when you see three-plus guys hitting that 10-goal mark. We’re going to need that. As good as we might want to be defensively, at the end of the day, you have to score a goal to win that game or score a goal to make it 2-1 instead of 1-1. It’s those little details that we’ll work hard on.”
Without question, the newcomers will have a say in just how far this squad advances late in the fall. Of the new transfers, two arrived ahead of this past spring semester, Ricards Busmeisters and Sam Hamilton. A transfer from Iowa Western Community College, Busmeisters will have an opportunity to factor into the team’s goal scoring exploits. At 6-foot-5, Niko Nareinke of Frankfurt, Germany, brings size and a big personality to the team. Bulldog fans should also watch out for midfielder Jasper Hofland and goalkeeper Inigo Chavarria. Once again, Weides likes the depth he has at keeper, a position that includes Jason Payne.
There also may be opportunities for some of the 11 freshmen who have entered the program – seven of whom are Nebraska natives. A midfielder from Lincoln, Noah Rakowsky continued the pipeline from Lincoln Southwest High School, the alma mater of Fuelberth and recent alums in Matt Schultz and Isaiah Shaddick. Weides and his staff are still in the process of vetting the skills and talents of the class of newcomers.
As Weides joked, “I couldn’t name them all because we have like 17 of them. I would struggle. I would need a list in front of me to name them all. I really like the class as a whole. Everybody we brought in is either at our level or raises our level. That’s a good thing because it adds depth. There are certainly guys who are going to be in the lineup and might start the first game – or at some point are going to be starting. There are other guys we feel like are going to contribute. Others might need a little time, but they’re going to get there. We’ve been really impressed with everyone.”
Regardless of the names and faces on the roster, Concordia’s GPAC rivals will expect a difficult battle when up against the Bulldogs. There’s no taking this program lightly. Not surprisingly, league coaches have pegged Concordia second (tied with Hastings) in the GPAC preseason poll. After back-to-back years of coming up agonizingly short or reaching the national tournament, the Bulldogs have their sights set on getting back to that stage. For all the program has achieved under Weides, it remains in search of its first conference regular season championship.
The early exit from the 2023 GPAC tournament was a lesson that was not lost on veterans such as Leicht. Says Leicht of expectations, “We want to win the regular season. We want to win the tournament. There’s no two ways about it. We want both. I think we can do it if we keep focused and the injury bug doesn’t strike us too bad. We have the ability; we have the work rate. The new guys have done a great job coming in and working hard and really fitting into the team culture we’ve established.”
Weides has similar thoughts. The standing goal is always to win the GPAC.
Said Weides, “Expectations are that we’re a team that’s competing for a conference championship. I say that not lightly. That’s not easy. We have a really challenging road ahead of us even though we’ve seen some promising things these first weeks. We haven’t kicked a ball against an opponent yet, and our opponents are going to cause us challenges. There are going to be unforeseen challenges that we face throughout the season. Some are under our control and some aren’t. We’re excited about this group’s desire, commitment and resiliency in achieving those goals. What we’re seeing right now is a very competitive environment. Even in our intrasquad scrimmage, there’s this little extra competitive nature that we’re seeing within this group.”
The Bulldogs will officially kick off their 2025 season on Aug. 23 with Columbia College (Mo.) slated to make a visit to Bulldog Stadium. Concordia will begin the season with seven-straight nonconference opponents before GPAC play gets underway in mid-September. The complete schedule can be found HERE.