Men’s soccer team locks down a 2-1 victory

Junior defender Michael Wyvill pursues the ball (photo from 2024 season).

Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh

By Ransom Watts

Defensive excellence brought Concordia men’s soccer home with a 2-1 victory on Saturday against the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers.

Dakota Wesleyan brought the pressure to the Bulldogs with a few shots on goal early in the game. But the pressure proved to be not enough as Concordia got away with the first goal of the night. Concordia sophomore Ricards Busmeisters was able to utilize some tricky footwork and speed to get around two Wesleyan defenders and send the ball out of the goalkeeper’s reach into the goal to give the Bulldogs the lead.

Throughout the rest of the first half the Tigers continued to have a noticeable presence at the goal and ended up outshooting the Bulldogs 10-5. That didn’t make any difference, however. Concordia’s goalkeeper, senior Inigo Chavarria, was like a magnet to the ball, and ensured the Tigers stayed scoreless with a total of six saves in the first half.

Into the second half the Bulldogs decided again to get to work early and scored within the first ten minutes after the restart. Hugo Garrote kicked a perfectly placed corner kick that set up Junior Michael Wyvill for a header into the goal which put Concordia up 2-0.

The Tigers were able to mount an offensive later in the second and send two shots towards the goal which were blocked by Chavarria. They managed to put a third shot into the goal however and make the score 2-1. Both teams made some substitutions that were followed by another three back-to-back shots from the Tigers. Two went wide and one was blocked by Chavarria.

With about four minutes left in the game the Tigers tried to muster a little more offense to tie it up but with time running out, were unable to even the score.

Overall Wesleyan had an aggressive day on offense with 18 shots to Concordia’s six. Without a doubt Concordia owed a lot of their success to Chavarria’s dominance at the net where he went 9-1 on saves through 90 minutes of play. Dakota Wesleyan’s defense didn’t fare so well as they allowed two goals for Concordia’s 3 shots on goal.

After this week’s win, the Bulldogs are nearing an even winning percentage with 7-8-0 and will try to get themselves to .500 at home with a win against the 4-5-6 Dordt Defenders in Bulldog Stadium on Oct. 25 at 1 p.m.