SEWARD, Neb. – Other than a first half goal drought of nearly 30 minutes, this one went about how the way the Concordia University men’s soccer team would have scripted it. Konrad Sinu put the Bulldogs up early and they eventually made it a runaway with an offensive surge in the second half. There were seven unique goal scorers for Concordia, which won 7-0 over new GPAC member Presentation College inside Bulldog Stadium on Saturday night (Oct. 7).
This performance marked a season high goal total for 11th-year head coach Jason Weides’ squad. The Bulldogs pushed their records to 6-4-1 overall and to 2-2-1 inside the conference.
As much as Weides appreciated the goals, he also liked seeing his team record its first shutout of the campaign.
“We finally started to put away some goals,” Weides said. “It was good to have a lot of different guys score goals. It’s nice to see them come from a lot of different areas. A clean sheet is what you want every single time. We need more of those and I think there will be more to come.”
Though the Saints (0-12, 0-7 GPAC) have been overmatched in conference play, they did manage to stay within one goal for much of the first half. After Sinu scored in the eighth minute (assisted by Aries Fung), Concordia waited until the 37th minute to put away another goal. Presentation sprung a leak after halftime. The goal by Roger de la Villa (37’) was followed by scores from David Carrasco (51’), Carlos Ferrer (57’), Daniel Campbell (66’), Ryan LeTourneau (78’) and Miguel Munoz (87’).
This was really about taking care of business. It would have been easy to overlook an opponent that had allowed 56 goals over its first 11 games this fall. The Bulldogs did not allow an emotional letdown to happen after Wednesday’s loss to fourth-ranked Hastings.
“Just before the game, we said we were going to stay focused like it’s a normal game,” Sinu said. “Every three points matters. We just went and played Concordia-style soccer.”
Concordia outshot Presentation, 27-7, and used 16 players off the bench as the game was in hand. Five of the seven goals were produced by reserves. They helped make up for the absences of injured starters in goalkeeper Jack Bennett, outside back Garrett Perry and midfielder Joao Pedro Verissimo. Freshman Callum Goldsmith got another start at keeper. He was eventually relieved by Mickey Waldron. They combined to make four saves in preservation of the shutout.
Three Bulldogs notched two assists on the night: Carrasco, Fung and Josh Lindquist. They collaborated on a goal total that was the most for the program since an 11-0 win over Mount Marty on Oct. 8, 2016. It’s been an overall solid week for Concordia, which simply couldn’t dig out of a hole created by a rough first three minutes in Wednesday’s loss. The Bulldogs appeared focused out of the gate on Saturday.
“We really try not to focus on records in terms of our communication as coaches,” Weides said. “The reality is the game plan for this game isn’t any different than it was the last game or the game before that. At the core, we focus on our play and what we do.”
Conference play will resume on Wednesday when the Bulldogs take on rival Doane (1-7-1, 1-5 GPAC) at 7:15 p.m. CT in Crete. The lone GPAC victory for the Tigers came by a 2-0 decision at Dordt on Sept. 22. In last season’s matchup, Concordia toppled Doane, 2-1.