Senior captain Slade Leicht offers a thoughtful dose of honesty in reflecting back on the early parts of the 2025 Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Soccer season. Yes, there were doubts about whether this particular Bulldog team would experience the euphoria it eventually felt on the evening of November 11. A discouraging thought entered the back of Leicht’s mind as the losses began to mount.
Up against a strong nonconference schedule, Concordia slipped to 0-4 while struggling to muster anything in the attack. On Sept. 20, the Bulldogs dropped a 2-1 decision at Northwestern in the GPAC opener and sat at 2-6 overall.
“I personally had my doubts,” Leicht admits. “This is my senior year. It’s my last year. I was doing my best to not come to terms that I was going to end on the worst season of my career. Being around the guys that I was around – my teammates are winners – and they helped me see past our record and recognize the fact that we have a team that meshes together well personality-wise.”
Doubt gave way to belief. Eventually, losses gave way to wins – lots of them. As part of a chaotic GPAC men’s soccer tournament, Concordia reigned supreme while dodging the landmines that exploded in the faces of the league’s top seeds, Northwestern and Midland. For the first time in program history, the Bulldogs celebrated a GPAC Championship Game victory on their home turf. The stands emptied onto Bulldog Stadium as the seconds ticked away in a 2-1 Concordia win over Morningside in the final.
The postgame scene was what one might expect: hugging, singing and chanting, a presentation of the GPAC championship banner and a ringing of The Victory Bell. Seniors like Leicht had experienced something like this in 2022 when the Bulldogs won the GPAC final on PK’s at Hastings. But this felt just a little bit different, considering the totality of the journey.
Said senior center back Adrian Wambua, “No one wants to start a season like we started. I think it made it that much sweeter to win in the end. We started slow and a lot of people probably thought we wouldn’t be able to do it. To come out as the best team and beat the top teams in our conference makes it that much sweeter … I wasn’t even there (at the bell). I was busy crying or something. I was lost the whole time. I felt out of body for a little bit.”
Said Weides two days after the championship victory, “To be able to see the smiles and jubilation on their faces and for them to be able to celebrate with their family and friends was really special to see. Smile, laughter, joy, tears – it’s a gamete of emotions. It’s the moment we’re chasing. It’s short-lived, but it’s the moment you’re always chasing.”
The turning point appeared to arrive in early October for a Concordia squad that looked much different than the 2024 side that had reached the GPAC tournament final. Seven of the 11 players who started the ’24 GPAC final graduated or left the program. This fall semester, Weides welcomed a class of more than 15 newcomers, one of the largest in his 18-year tenure. Perhaps some growing pains were to be expected as the holdovers, transfers and freshmen merged to form a new identity.
Inside the locker room, the Bulldogs couldn’t help but feel like they were capable of more. After a 3-1 loss at Morningside on Oct. 4 in a performance Weides deemed exceedingly poor, a players only meeting was held. This type of gathering is something of a cliché in sports, but this meeting proved to be productive. Since that moment, Concordia has gone 8-1 with two victories over archnemesis Hastings.
“I think the meeting went very well,” Leicht said. “Immediately after that, we get a result on the road against Hastings. They didn’t have their best season ever, but it’s Hastings. We love to beat them. We beat them at their place. The bench energy was electric. The desire on the field was electric. It was a desire that we hadn’t seen until that point in the season and it’s a desire that hasn’t died since then.”
The pieces were falling into place. Iowa Western Community College transfer Ricards Busmeisters became the offensive threat the team sorely needed (Concordia scored only one goal over the season’s first four games). Additionally, Leicht, Oliver Balazs and Hugo Garrote emerged as Second Team All-GPAC performers, the goalkeeper combo of Inigo Chavarria and Nolan Fuelberth was rock solid all along and Wambua and Mike Wyvill teamed up for a stellar center back combo. The list goes on and on.
It took more than sheer talent. Thrilling as it was, the GPAC tournament ride was a harrowing one that came with drama at every turn. In the quarterfinal win over Hastings, the Bulldogs won in the 94th minute on Garrote’s free kick laser that netted the golden goal. In the semifinal victory over Briar Cliff, Concordia relinquished leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Busmeisters delivered the winner on a penalty in the 84th minute. In the championship, the Bulldogs appeared to be on their heels at times in a 1-1 stalemate late into the second half. Busmeisters again emerged as he knocked in the decisive goal in the 79th minute (assisted by Oliver Benson).
A newcomer to the team in the spring of 2025, Busmeisters (Riga, Latvia) achieved something many only dream of – scoring the winning goal in a championship game. Said Busmeisters, “I’ve had a lot of experiences with teams in big tournaments, but that was back home in Europe. This was my first time experiencing the college season. It just feels amazing to get a championship the first time doing so and to score the goal to help the team win is even better. It’s what dreams are made of, you know.”
Weides oversaw Bulldog teams that reached the GPAC final in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022 and 2024, but none of those editions limped as slowly out of the gate. A Weides-coached team had never started 0-4, and none of his squads had been 2-6 after eight games since the 2009 season (his second as head coach). It’s a testament to Weides, his staff and players that the ship never capsized.
From the start of preseason training, Weides used the word “uncommon” as a mantra for the 2025 squad. The word is an accurate descriptor of the voyage that has taken place over the past three months.
“Sports are a microcosm of life,” Weides said. “There are a lot of things that are great – celebrations and joys – and there are a lot of challenges, a lot of failure and a lot of heartache. This season encompasses that. It wasn’t just a straight road to a championship. Our start was not great. It was far less than ideal – one of the worst starts we’ve had in my time here, especially given the expectations. We had expectations that we would be here at the end of the year.”
By the time the postseason beckoned, the Bulldogs felt ready for the moment. They thrived in the stressful situations that are characteristic of intense win-or-you’re-done GPAC tournament games. “You’re going to have a lot of struggles and challenges in GPAC tournament games,” Leicht said. “That’s just the nature of how those games play out. This team is very well equipped to deal with those struggles, like conceding a goal or not being able to score in regulation versus Hastings or losing our lead twice against Briar Cliff.
“We’ve been knocked down before. We learned how to stand back up.”
Before a championship could be won in November, Concordia had to find itself in October. “Our mentality was one of the main things we worked on,” Wambua said. “A lot of the weight was on the older players. We had to put in the extra effort to send a message across the team.”
Added Busmeisters, “Like Coach said, it was like a puzzle. We were trying to find all the puzzle pieces, and we slowly started to put it together. Now it’s come to a point where we’re playing at our best when it really matters. The timing of it is perfect.”
As announced on Friday (Nov. 14), the Bulldogs will be headed to Olathe, Kan., and will take on No. 24 Eastern Oregon University in the NAIA National Championship First Round this Thursday. The winner will advance to play site host and second-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene University in the second round on Saturday. The elite competition will provide Concordia with the opportunity to showcase just how far it has come since that 0-4 start.
“We have some guys who are completely different players now than they were earlier this year,” Weides said. “A big part of that is having a lot of new guys. Sometimes that transition comes easy and sometimes it doesn’t. We had a few guys who struggled in that transition. We’re fortunate they’re playing their best soccer at this point. It was a good time because we needed it. Our team’s really come together. You don’t win just through talent. You need that collective energy, culture and camaraderie. I think this team has really grown in that.”