SEWARD, Neb. – The only frustration during the first half had been an inability to put away a goal. Finally, a foul in the box during the 51st minute took the lid off the goal and helped carry the Concordia University women’s soccer team to a 3-0 home victory over Mount Marty on Saturday afternoon. Three Bulldogs each picked up their first goals of the 2019 season in the win.
Head coach Chris Luther’s squad remains unbeaten in conference play at 3-0-1 (3-6-1 overall) with a demanding stretch of GPAC action upcoming.
“The first half was a little frustrating. We’ve been working on finishing and working on the attack and we just couldn’t seem to get anything to fall,” Luther said. “When we take as many shots as we did in the first half we expect our percentage to be a little higher. We talked at halftime about creating more opportunities in the attacking third and they did that in the second half. Overall it was a good team effort.”
A focus moving forward will be placed upon finishing opportunities on the attack. Despite the 0-0 score at halftime, Concordia never felt seriously threatened on a day in which the Lancers failed to muster even a single shot (31-0 shot count). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs continue to search for dependable offensive options. On this day, the penalty kick strike from Tori Cera early in the second half would have been enough.
Concordia put the game away with the help of a goal apiece in the 64th and 74th minutes. The leg of Cera led to the second Concordia goal. She played a long free kick into the box for Grace Soenksen, who played the ball directly out of the air and into the back of the net. Anyone who has followed Bulldog soccer is plenty familiar with the Soenksen name. Grace’s older sister Esther recently starred at Concordia.
“It’s very exciting,” Soenksen said of putting up her first college goal. “I never even thought about it coming into the game because I’m a defender. It’s always exciting to get on top and put some goals in the net.”
A second team All-GPAC honoree last season, Brynn Suddeth got on the board with her first goal this fall. She took advantage of the situation when the opposing goalkeeper misplayed a throw-in. Then up 3-0, the Bulldogs enjoyed a commanding lead that allowed them to use 11 players off the bench.
At keeper, Jessica Knedler played the first 45 minutes before Kalie Ward got the nod in the second half. Their job was made simple by the lack of any Mount Marty attack. Cera had six more shots herself than the Lancers did as a team. Concordia also enjoyed a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks.
A gauntlet of a week is on the horizon for the Bulldogs. Next time out, they will host 25th-ranked Midland (6-2-1, 3-1 GPAC) at 5:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday in a rematch of a 2018 GPAC semifinal clash. Concordia won that matchup, 1-0, in Fremont and advanced to the GPAC tournament championship game for the fifth year in a row.
“One thing we definitely have to do is tighten up our defense,” Luther said. “We were able to get away with a little bit of play today that isn’t going to work against teams like (Midland). We need to make sure our defense is sound and unified.”