Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. — Midland University took to the pitch again Wednesday, looking to rebound from their first conference loss of the season in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) game against Concordia University. The Warriors bounced back with a 3-0 victory, thanks to a second-half flurry of three goals scored in seven minutes.
“This was a very important game to keep our GPAC title hopes alive,” said head coach Josh Nakayama. “We had some injuries, and guys had to step up.”
Despite 20 first-half shots, Sean Beatty, making his first start of the year for Midland, and Concordia’s Nolan Fuelberth kept the score tied 0-0 at halftime, each recording two saves.
In the first 25 minutes of the second half, Concordia edged Midland 4-3 in shots. When the Warriors needed an offensive spark, they turned to leading goalscorer Hugo Garcia-Rosado Duran. Receiving a pass from Pau Vivas about 25 yards from goal, Garcia-Rosado Duran saw the keeper off his line and fired the ball into the back of the net, giving Midland a 1-0 lead in the 73rd minute.
That goal opened the floodgates. Four minutes later, Beatty launched a long ball from his own box to Garcia-Rosado Duran in midfield. Garcia flicked it on to Vivas, who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Vivas made no mistake, slotting the ball into the net to double Midland’s lead in the 77th minute. Three minutes later, in the 80th minute, Vivas dribbled past a couple of Bulldog defenders before passing to Tsubasa Abe, who calmly scored his first goal of the season to give Midland a 3-0 advantage.
Concordia tried to mount a comeback with three shots in the final 10 minutes, but they couldn’t score. One shot ricocheted off the crossbar, and another was saved by Beatty, who secured the clean sheet and the 3-0 victory.
Defensively, senior goalkeeper Sean Beatty made his first career start and delivered a stellar performance, saving all seven shots on goal and even earning an assist.
Nakayama praised Beatty after the match: “Sean was amazing in goal for us! He truly embodies what it means to be a Warrior! Man of the match performance.”
Offensively, Garcia-Rosado Duran opened the scoring with his 11th goal of the season and added an assist, while Vivas played a pivotal role in all three goals, scoring once and assisting twice.
“Great to see us score goals tonight and secure the win,” Nakayama said. “We need to keep our focus and keep winning one game at a time.”
The win puts the Warriors three points behind GPAC leader Northwestern College, which has 19 points after seven conference games. Midland sits second with 16 points from as many games.
The Warriors will be in action this weekend when they travel to Forest City, Iowa, to take on Waldorf on Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. They return home Oct. 25 to face Northwestern.
