HASTINGS, Neb. – For the second season in a row, the Concordia University women’s soccer team suffered a heartbreaking fate in the GPAC postseason championship game. With 4:37 left in double overtime, Courtney Doeschot put away the golden goal for a 1-0 Hastings victory on an icy cool Thursday night (Nov. 8) at Lloyd Wilson Field. The two sides played with a fresh snow pushed to the edges of the stadium turf.
The loss prevented sixth-year head coach Greg Henson’s squad from earning a third national tournament berth in five seasons. The Bulldogs (13-3-5) have played in each of the past five conference tournament title games.
“I thought we played like champions, which is what we expect out of our players, day-in and day-out,” Henson said. “Whether, it’s in practice, regular season, conference tournament or whatever the case is, you go out and give your all for more than 100 minutes – and that’s what you saw tonight. It’s unfortunate that we conceded that goal in double overtime. I thought we played really well in segments. Hastings is a good program, a good team and a great rival for us.”
Concordia did its best to follow the formula that worked in 1-0 GPAC postseason triumphs over Morningside in the quarterfinals and No. 17 Midland in the semifinals. There just wasn’t a whole lot going on the attack for the Bulldogs, who mustered a grand total of five shots in more than 105 minutes of action on Thursday. The closest Concordia came to cracking the scoreboard was a 49th minute shot by Michaela Twito that struck the crossbar and went straight down in an instance when the ball bounced the Bronco way.
That ball spent a lot of time away from the Bulldog attacking third, but a back line anchored by sophomore Tori Cera and freshman Cheyenne Smith was up to the task. Hastings (16-0-3) led the shot count 19-5, though many of its shots were under pressure, outside the box and off frame. Concordia keeper Lindsey Carley made five saves.
With the season on the line, senior captain Maria Deeter, wearing a knee brace, stepped back into the starting lineup in the midfield after having been sidelined for essentially every contest since suffering an injury at Jamestown on Oct. 20. She went out like the champion she’s been for four seasons. Afterwards, she tweeted, “Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog. Proud to have put the jersey on the past 4 years.”
Her meaning to the program will never be lost on her head coach. Said Henson, “What a warrior that she is with the condition she is. She gave us everything she had tonight. I thought she put us in opportunities to steal a win on some of those set pieces. We’ve been talking about (starting her) since she got the green light to come back. To cap off your college career fighting through that injury says a lot about who she is and how much success she’s going to have in the future.”
Concordia can take some solace in making the series with Hastings a competitive rivalry that did not exist before the past five years. It may forever be urban legend as to whether someone on the Bulldog side of the rivalry decked out the on-campus Bronco statue with a “tame the Broncos” sign or whether it was staged by Hastings loyalists themselves. Whatever the case, both programs love to beat each other.
The Bulldogs now say emotional goodbyes to a senior class headed by Deeter but also featuring Martin twins Ashley and Lauren, two hugely impactful players. Another senior in Taylor Roby forced her way into the starting lineup as a junior and never let go. The memories don’t have to let go either.
Said Henson, “It’s a great senior class that we’re going to dearly miss. They brought a lot to this program. They set a new level and a new bar for what’s considered a good season at Concordia.”
Without those seniors, the identity likely won’t change for a program built on hard work and tenacity. Sometimes there are bumps and bruises along the way, but the women’s soccer program under Henson has a way of winning when others have counted it out.