Bulldogs fall in heartbreaker to rival Doane
SEWARD, Neb. – A Concordia-Doane men’s soccer matchup almost always results in an overtime contest. For the seventh time in the last eight meetings, the two rivals needed more than 90 minutes to determine the outcome. Less than a minute into the second overtime, the Tigers’ Isaac Beber struck for the golden goal to keep Doane (5-9-2, 4-4-1 GPAC) unbeaten in the last five games in the series with Concordia.
“It’s always been an intense rivalry with Doane,” Bulldog head coach Jason Weides said. “That dates way back. I remember as a player some great heated, back-and-forth games. In recent years there have been a lot of overtimes.
“You just know no matter what’s going on with either team that year, it’s going to be a tough, competitive battle.”
Concordia sophomore midfielder Chris DeFeyter tallied the final goal of regulation when he scored directly off the corner kick from freshman midfielder Gideon Soenksen in the 28th minute. It was the first goal of the season for DeFeyter, who drilled the ball into the net from just inside the 18-yard box in the middle of the field to knot the score at 1-1.
“It was a good ball in by Gideon and it just kind of skipped through Nathan Douglas’ foot,” DeFeyter said. “Got a touch and it popped up, so I just kind of went for it. I didn’t really think about it. I just kind of dove at it and it happened to go in.”
The Bulldogs (11-6, 4-5 GPAC) created several more chances, including in the waning moments of regulation. Concordia’s top goal scorer Douglas connected on a strike with about 13 minutes left in the second half that Doane goalkeeper Casey Clark rejected.
Then in the 88th minute, the Bulldogs pressured the Tiger defense with several cracks at the net, culminating with a Douglas shot that went wide left of the post to end the threat.
“Sometimes finding the back of the net requires a little bit of luck and we just didn’t have that little bit of luck,” Weides said. “We fought hard. We found ourselves in good positions. We created chances. A lot of times those chances fall in the back of the net. We’ve been fairly successful late in games at that, but for whatever reason we weren’t able to find it today.”
Concordia is now 1-2 in overtime this contests and drops to 4-3 at home this season following an 8-0 mark at Bulldog Stadium in 2011. The Bulldogs, who have lost three league games by a single goal and two by a pair of goals, remain confident that they can make a late-season run despite another tight defeat on Tuesday.
“We’re getting all these heartbreaking losses,” said DeFeyter, who became the 12th Bulldog to score this season with his goal on Tuesday. “We’re not losing (in the GPAC Championships). We’ve worked too hard this season.”
While Doane had 13 shots to Concordia’s 12, the Bulldogs placed more shots on frame with an 8-5 edge in shots on goal.
Concordia remains home on Saturday when Northwestern (10-4-1, 5-2-1 GPAC) comes to town for Concordia’s Senior Day. The Bulldogs, who sit in eighth place in the GPAC, hope to better position themselves for the GPAC Championships, which get started Nov. 1, by knocking off the Red Raiders.