Fall Sports Preview
by Jacy Johnston
Women’s Soccer and Bulldog Football work hard during pre-season practice. Photos by Morgan German
FOOTBALL
Concordia’s football program will open the 2017 season under new leadership after the resignation of coach Vance Winter. Patrick Daberkow will coach his first season as Head Coach after having been defensive coordinator for the past seven seasons. Daberkow and the Bulldogs look to build on last year’s 7-3 record.
Senior trio D’Mauria Martin, Tarence Roby and Jared Garcia will be key returners for the Bulldogs coming off their First Team All-GPAC performances last season. Senior Seth Fitzke will also be a leader for the Bulldogs as he returns from a torn ACL.
The Concordia Football team will kick off their 2017 season on September 2 on the road in Salina, KS. The Bulldogs will play Kansas Wesleyan University who amassed a 9-2 2016 record. Concordia’s first home game is September 9 against Ottawa University (KS) at 1 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL
The Concordia Volleyball Program will say good-bye to a nucleus of seniors to graduation and look forward to a season with new leaders in the program. The football team wasn’t the only program with coaching shake-ups as the volleyball team added full-time assistant Abby Pollart and graduate assistant Abby Saehler to round out coach Scott Mattera’s staff for the year.
The Bulldogs look to senior Jocelyn Garcia as an experienced leader and a three-year libero for Concordia and senior Annie Friesen who is returning from injury. Yet Concordia is not short on experience as a talented group of rising sophomores will return to the floor after starting their careers in the 2016 season. Sophomore Emma Brand and freshman Tara Callahan hope to fill an open setter spot on the team.
Concordia will make their season debut on August 19 against Baker University at 3 p.m in Walz Arena and continue their home season on August 23 versus Bethany College at 7:30 p.m.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
After a banner 2016 season, the Concordia Women’s Soccer Team hopes to repeat its national tournament berth in 2017. Junior Maria Deeter and sophomore Sami Birmingham will be leading the Bulldog squad in pursuit of success. Coming off First-Team All-GPAC selections in 2016, the duo will be looking to repeat as GPAC Champions this year with familiar teammates. The biggest lineup change for the Bulldogs will be at the goal, as graduation forces Concordia to replace senior star Chrissy Lind.
In 2016, Concordia ended with a 15-6-1 record and the third best record in the GPAC. This year, the Bulldog’s season opener is August 26 at 1 p.m. in Bulldog Stadium against Avila University.
MEN’S SOCCER
The Concordia Men’s Soccer team will kick-off its season on August 19 with an Alumni Scrimmage in Bulldog Stadium at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs first collegiate game will be August 26 against Sterling College,
following the Women’ s Soccer game at 1 p.m.
Most of the team will return from last year, and the Bulldogs will depend on a strong backfield led by All-GPAC selection Florian Caraballo. All-Conference senior Marcelo Hernandez will also return to the team while pursuing a graduate degree at Concordia.
Concordia finished their season in the GPAC Championship last year with a 6-3 conference record and an 11-7-2 overall
record.
WOMEN’S GOLF
The Concordia Women’s Golf team will return to action without National Qualifier Amy Ahlers this fall. Ahlers concluded her career last spring after winning the GPAC Conference and being named a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American.
This fall, the Bulldogs will look for new leaders on the team but will not have to look far. Sophomore Murphy Sears ended her freshman season after being named All- Conference at the GPAC meet. Sears will
return to lead team with upperclassmen Madison Pitsch and Lauren Sperry.
The team will begin their season on August 31 and September 1 in Yankton, SD at the Mount Marty Invite.
MEN’S GOLF
Nolan Zikas is entering his junior season for the Bulldog Golf team and has twice been an All-GPAC Golfer. He will lead a team composed five new freshmen, and continue to work with his five other familiar teammates.
Seniors Tyler Ehresman and Russell Otten hope to improve the team’s place in the GPAC this fall at the conference meet in Sioux Falls in October. Otten aims to build on two Top-10 finishes from last season.
The Men’s Golf Program will first see action at the Midland Invite on September 1 and 2 in Oakland.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Concordia Cross Country Program will continue its tenure under coach Matt Biesel with its Alumni Run on September 2 in Seward.
The Women’s team will find leadership in lone senior Emily Deschaine (formerly Sievert) who is a two-time national qualifier. Deschaine intends to run a healthy season of cross after coming back from a bone bruise last season for the Conference and National Meets. Junior Taylor Grove will return to the 5K race after qualifying for nationals in the Marathon last May.
The Men’s team will be led by seniors Pat Wortmann and Kohlton Gabehart. Wortmann faced injury in the spring, but expects to return to cross country healthy after a break-out junior season. Junior
Thomas Taylor will also look to make a breakthrough this season.
