‘Dougie’ drops two more goals in farewell domination

SEWARD, Neb. – Accomplished senior Nathan Douglas played his final regular-season home game inside Bulldog Stadium and appropriately nailed Concordia’s first and last goals on the way to a 4-0 victory over Briar Cliff as part of senior night on Saturday. With Douglas active on the attack, Concordia thoroughly dominated the visiting Chargers. The excellent performance propelled the Bulldogs to 9-7 overall and 5-3 in the GPAC.

“I think we really played with a sense of urgency and purpose on the attack today,” Bulldog head coach Jason Weides said. “That’s one thing we really challenged our guys to do and credit to them, they came out and did it really well today.”

Douglas’ fourth-minute goal gave him a career high 12 for the season while extending his program record count to 41. But the Winnipeg, Canada, native had one more tally left in him as he got behind the defense on a beautiful pass ahead from Donal Landrum to score in the 88th minute, effectively putting a bow on top of Saturday’s win.

Senior day proved emotional for one of Concordia’s all-time greats.

“I was pretty sad today,” Douglas said. “I mean, it felt like yesterday I came here as an 18-year-old. To play my last regular-season home game – right now it’s a pretty emotional time. Before the game I was a little sad.

“I’m just happy we got the W. I’m happy to score. I also missed the easiest chance of my career tonight,” Douglas quipped.

Douglas took 10 of Concordia’s 27 shots on a night in which the Chargers failed to hoist a single shot. DeFeyter, junior Rajan Kooner and Landrum each fired four shots.

Despite holding a 17-0 shot advantage at halftime, Concordia led just 1-0. That quickly changed as Douglas fed junior midfielder Chris DeFeyter 58 seconds into the second half to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 and well on their way to victory. The play increased DeFeyter’s career high goal total to seven and Douglas’ assist total to six.

Landrum notched a goal of his own in the 60th minute when he relentlessly chased down his own blocked shot and booted home the Bulldogs’ third score.

Concordia picked up fourth shutout of the season with junior Brendan Buchanan (79 minutes) and senior Skylar Lewis (11 minutes) combining for the blanking in a light night of work for Bulldog keepers.

Lewis joined Douglas as the only seniors on this year’s roster. Weides acknowledged the contributions of both after Saturday’s win.

“Both Douglas and Skylar have done a lot of stuff for our program,” Weides said. “They’re guys who work hard. We really want to give them an opportunity to come back here on our turf (in the GPAC tournament). We’re hoping to get a chance to finish the season out strong.”

Douglas has similar aims in mind as he looks to close out a great career in style. He is never afraid to offer up lofty expectations.

“I just want to get to the GPAC finals. That’s the only goal I have,” Douglas said.

The Bulldogs finish up the regular season next week with a pair of road games against conference foes. Up next is a date with No. 10 Hastings (14-2, 7-1 GPAC) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.