Women’s soccer boosts program best national ranking to 16th

NAIA women’s soccer top 25 poll

SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University women’s soccer continues to gravitate to new heights. On Tuesday the Bulldogs jumped five spots in the national poll to No. 16, a position that again ranks as the highest placement in program history. Head coach Greg Henson led Concordia women’s soccer to its first-ever national ranking (No. 24) last season after the Bulldogs defeated conference regular-season champion Hastings in the GPAC tournament championship game.

Concordia, which owns the best overall record (21-4-4) among GPAC teams since the beginning of 2014, is ranked first among its conference rivals. Preseason league favorite Hastings (3-4) dropped back nine spots from the preseason national poll and now sits at No. 22. Concordia has played two teams that remain nationally ranked: No. 6 Benedictine College and No. 15 Bellevue University. The Bulldogs defeated Bellevue, 2-1, in Seward on Aug. 29.

Concordia’s 6-1 record equals last year’s conference tournament championship team and the 2003 squad for the best seven-game start to a season since the women’s soccer program’s first year of varsity competition in 1996. Only the 2003 team has ever won seven times in the season’s opening eight contests.

Since taking over the program in 2013, Henson owns a record of 30-13-6 (.673) with three victories over top-20 ranked opponents. Concordia enters conference play with a 13-game unbeaten streak (9-0-4) against GPAC opponents. The Bulldogs open up their GPAC slate at Northwestern (3-3-1, 0-0 GPAC) on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Best seven-game starts in program history
6-1, 2015
6-1, 2014
6-1, 2003
5-1-1, 1998
5-2, 2006