Second-half outburst lifts Bulldogs over Mount Marty
SEWARD, Neb. – A game that went scoreless for more than 50 minutes ended with a 5-0 blowout victory for Concordia men’s soccer over visiting Mount Marty (3-5, 0-1 GPAC) on Saturday. Senior forward Nathan Douglas’ goal in the 51st minute opened the floodgates as the Bulldogs (4-4, 1-0 GPAC) took out their frustrations from the loss Bethany College a few days earlier.
“We bounced back well. We looked like two different teams as compared to (Wednesday),” Concordia head coach Jason Weides said. “It was a good response from our team overall and this was our first GPAC game, so it was really important for us to get three points.”
The onslaught came about midway through the second half when Douglas and junior defender Daniel Moore combined on back-to-back goals. Positioned in close in the middle of the field, Douglas received a pass from Moore from near the right corner and quickly deposited the ball into the net for his second goal of the game and fifth on the season.
Just 1:08 later (78th minute), Douglas attacked again, this time finding Moore who got on the board with his first goal of the 2013 season. Concordia led 4-0 after Moore’s tally.
“I got the ball on the run and I was able to get it into ‘Dougie’ and he was able to finish it,” Moore said. “He executed really well. And then I had the same opportunity, just the opposite. He was able to bring it in and I was able to get my foot on it and drag it in.”
Concordia wasn’t done just yet. In the 79th minute, junior Chris DeFeyter launched a shot from well beyond the box that found the back of the net to provide the final goal of the contest.
Earlier on, in the 58th minute, sophomore forward Dean Stevens had made it 2-0 with a score off the assist from Donal Landrum. Stevens and Moore became the sixth and seventh different Bulldogs to register at least one goal this season.
This was much more like the type of team Weides envisioned seeing this season.
“It was a lot closer to the team that we know can perform on a consistent basis,” Weides said. “That was the closest 45 minutes of the second half that we’ve had of a good consistent performance. Now it’s just a matter of doing that day in and day out. I do think we have a lot more in us. This is just the start of what we can do.”
Moore also sees room for further improvement.
“We want to be that way but we also want to continue to grow as a team and continue to get better,” Moore said. “We want to come in ready to play as soon as we start the game and not have to work back into it in the second half.”
Junior Brendan Buchanan and freshman Mark Horsburgh combined on Concordia’s third shutout of the campaign. Buchanan played the first 82:18 in goal before giving way to Horsburgh. Buchanan notched five saves.
The five goals were the most by the Bulldogs since a 6-0 win over Dakota Wesleyan on Sept. 29, 2012.
Concordia is off until next Saturday when it goes on the road for the first time in conference play. Concordia will travel to Sioux City, Iowa, to challenge Morningside (3-5, 0-1 GPAC) at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.