Frustrating offensive day halts Bulldog winning streak
SEWARD, Neb. – After blistering the back of the net with 16 combined goals over their last three games, the Bulldog offensive attack misfired on a multitude of scoring chances on a windy, cold Saturday afternoon. Visiting Dordt escaped Bulldog Stadium with a 1-0 victory despite recording 20 fewer shot attempts. The loss snaps a three-game win streak and drops Concordia to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
“It was a really frustrating day,” Bulldog head coach Jason Weides said. “It’s arguably one of the more frustrating losses we’ve had. Credit to Dordt. They played really hard, worked really hard and took their chance well. But we did have opportunities – plenty of opportunities.”
Concordia finished with 24 shots compared to a mere four for the Defenders. The Bulldogs held an advantage in nearly every aspect of the game, except on the scoreboard.
Senior Nathan Douglas and junior Chris DeFeyter – the last two GPAC Offensive Players of the Week – entered action red hot, each with at least one goal in three-straight games. The two worked in conjunction to set up a great chance in the 17th minute when Douglas fed DeFeyter on a cross into the middle of the field. However, DeFeyter’s clean look at the goal missed wide to the right and proved to be an omen of things to come.
“When you outshoot a team five-to-one, six-to-one, you expect to see a few goals in there,” Weides said. “We couldn’t buy it today. We just weren’t composed in the final third. It was just one of those days where we couldn’t seem to find the back of the net. Credit their keeper. He made some great saves.”
Dordt broke the scoreless tie with a 55th-minute goal from Eric Grootenboer. It would be one of only two shots on goal for the entire game for the Defenders (3-7-1, 1-1-1 GPAC).
Dordt goalkeeper Joey Rasnic earned the shutout by making three saves. For much of the day he watched shots sail to his right, left and over his head.
Individually, DeFeyter ended up taking six shots (two on goal). Douglas missed to the left on a prime opportunity early in the second half on one of his three shots.
Sophomore midfielder Gideon Soenksen was second on the team with four shots. His miss over the cross bar in the final five minutes proved to be one of the team’s best chances down the stretch.
The Bulldogs are in the midst of the meat of the GPAC schedule. They return to action on Wednesday when they travel to take on first-place Doane (5-4, 4-0 GPAC) at 7:15 p.m. In the only meeting between the two teams last season, the Tigers won, 2-1, in double overtime.
Weides believes his team simply needs to get to the next game on the schedule to get back on track.
“Another 90 minutes (is what we need),” Weides said. “We get to go to Crete for Doane and hopefully the boys will be up for a good game because Doane’s a good team in our conference. If we can go out and perform at a higher level, this game will be forgotten pretty quickly.”