Bulldogs battle closely with perennially strong Benedictine

By Jacob Knabel on Mar. 20, 2021 in Women's Soccer

ATCHISON, Kan. – Up against a perennially strong program, the Concordia University Women’s Soccer team made it a 90-minute battle in Atchison, Kan., on Saturday (March 20). Host Benedictine College got a 34th-minute goal from Meagan Papin and saw out a 1-0 victory at Legacy Field. The Bulldogs were shut out for the second outing in a row this spring.

Head Coach Thomas Goines’ squad now stands at 9-5-1 overall. Concordia also dropped a 1-0 double overtime decision at Southwestern College (Kan.) on March 6.

“I was very proud of our team today,” Goines said. “Our second match of the spring was against a very strong team in our region. After we kicked off the rust, we played a very even match. We had chances in the run of play to even the score and were just not clinical enough in those moments. It was definitely the type of match we want to have to prepare for the GPAC playoffs.”

The Bulldogs got closer to full strength on Saturday in a solid showing. The negative was an ability to finish on the attacking end. After being narrowly outshot in the first half (7-5), Concordia was held without a shot over the final 45 minutes. Leading goal scorer Mikeila Martinez was most active for the Bulldogs in firing three shots, including one on goal.

Benedictine (10-3-2) entered the contest situated as the first team outside of the latest NAIA coaches’ poll. The goal scored by Papin was her first this season. Goalkeepers Olivia Berry and Ashley Rehagen split the 90 minutes evenly while combining on the shutout.

On the other end, Lindsey Carley made five saves to keep the Bulldogs within striking distance. As a unit, Concordia managed to limit the Ravens to 11 total shots while being led on the back end by the likes of all-conference defenders Allee Downing and Grace Soenksen.

The Bulldogs will make their first home appearance of the spring next Saturday (March 27) when Grand View University (Iowa) is scheduled to make a visit to Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. CT. The Vikings improved to 7-5-1 overall with a 1-0 win at Waldorf University (Iowa) on March 13. Next week’s match will be the final one before the GPAC quarterfinals take place on April 3.