SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia women’s soccer team dropped its first conference outing on a brisk autumn night at Bulldog Stadium. The Bulldogs three-game winning streak came to a halt as they were blanked 1-0 by Dakota Wesleyan.
Similar to the season opener, offensive production was the thorn in the Bulldogs side during the match. Despite putting seven shots on goal, the Bulldogs could not capitalize on their opportunities. Concordia outshot Dakota Wesleyan 20-6 overall and 7-1 on shots on goal. The Bulldogs also outnumbered the Tigers on corner kicks 9-3.
Overall, six different Bulldogs recorded a shot on goal as Mikeila Martinez lead the charge with two. Martinez came extremely close to tying the score in the 85th minute of play as her shot caromed off the left post.
“We were playing persistent all match,” head coach Thomas Goines said. “We were knocking on the door, looking for opportunities. It came down to not having enough quality or creativity. We managed most of the game well, but in the final stage of the game, we just were not creative enough to break down a very well-organized defense.”
The decisive goal came in the 49th minute of play when Dakota Wesleyan’s Alondra Partida rolled a shot past Concordia goalkeeper Lindsey Carley to give the Tigers the lead and ultimately the win. Partida’s goal was the first allowed by Concordia in GPAC play this season.
Dakota Wesleyan goalkeeper Alissa Betz was a major obstacle to the Bulldog scoring threats as she recorded an impressive seven saves throughout the match.
Despite the lone goal, the Concordia defense was stout as usual as it put the Bulldogs in a competitive position throughout the duration of the match. Goines hopes his team will continue their strong defensive play while also using tonight as a learning experience for playing the final third.
“Defensively, we handled two very strong strikers that made it tough for us,” Goines said. “With a new coach and players playing different positions, the first thing, you have to do as a team is reorganize defensively. The hardest part to learn is the final third. Our defense has allowed us to grow. After we allowed a goal, there were no hanging heads. They pressed the rest of the game and were very creative on getting the ball from one side to the other to create service chances.”
Next on the schedule is Wednesday (Oct. 7)’s trip to Sioux City, Iowa for a 5:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Morningside College (0-0-1, 0-0-1 GPAC).
