Sadness was the prevailing emotion on Nov. 14 when members of the Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Soccer program learned they had not been selected as an at-large qualifier for the national tournament. The bubble had burst for a group that was perhaps the first team excluded from the field. The fact that the Bulldogs were right in the thick of the at-large discussion showed the progress of the program, which qualified automatically in each of its first four national tournament appearances.
No one was quite prepared for such an abrupt ending, Head Coach Nick Smith included. An overtime loss in the GPAC tournament semifinals left Concordia’s fate in the hands of the committee. With time for reflection, Smith offers the proper perspective.
“The big thing was the limbo in between (the GPAC semifinal loss and the national tournament selections),” Smith said. “We knew after the Hastings result that it was becoming unlikely for us, but we knew there was a possibility. Over the next week, we were waiting around and seeing how the conference tournaments were unfolding. We had a big message for the group after the Hastings game that night about how much we have accomplished this year as a team and how we took a step forward building on what we had accomplished last year. In a lot of respects, this year we were a much more balanced team. We increased our goal output and decreased the amount of goals we conceded over the year.”
In other words, the 2025 team reached a higher overall level of play than the 2024 edition that broke new ground with the program’s first ever win on the national tournament stage. This fall, the Bulldogs lost only twice all season (just once in the regular season) while finishing at 13-2-5 overall (7-1-3 GPAC). Concordia came up one win shy of claiming a GPAC regular season title as part of a journey that included the highest ranked win in program history – a 3-1 home victory over No. 4 Columbia College (Mo.).
Throughout the campaign, the Bulldogs were led by an accomplished senior class featuring a pair of three-time First Team All-GPAC honorees in prolific goal scorer Kierstynn Garner and midfield stalwart Niah Kirchner. They were two of the 11 members of the class honored back on senior day. That group did not include super senior Taylor Slaymaker, who returned for a final season to help anchor the back line. The box score never did justice to Kirchner, whose contributions were outlined in detail HERE.
The spotlight often found Garner, who will go down as a program legend. The Kearney native produced 68 goals and 31 assists over the past four years, making her the second leading goal scorer in the history of the program. Remarkably consistent throughout her career, Garner (school record 23 game-winning goals) has always displayed a flair for the dramatic. Her breakaway game winner with 11 seconds remaining to sink Doane, 2-1, in the season finale will stand as one of her signature moments. The goal locked Concordia into second place in the final GPAC standings.
Said Smith of Garner’s impeccable resume, “She’s elite in the elite moments. I think that’s what’s going to be what her legacy is. She had the most game-winning goals in her career going into her senior year. She scores when it matters. You talk about a young woman with the right mentality. That is ‘Kay.’ She is a winner. I know moving on in life – and whenever she moves on from soccer – Kay is going to be good because of the head on top of her shoulders. She’s a special player. There are not going to many players who will compare to her with the consistency she’s had in her career here.”
Garner was joined on the GPAC’s all-conference first team by Kirchner and sophomores Kyana Rios and Triniti Rowe. In addition, second team honors went to freshman Guadalupe Sanchez and honorable mention was earned by junior Sadie Mares, senior Elena Ruiz and Slaymaker. The collective efforts of these honorees and many others on the roster resulted in a team that outscored its opponents by a combined total of 57-20. The Bulldogs led all GPAC teams with an average of 2.85 goals scored per game.
Indeed, Garner led the way with 19 goals and 13 assists in her senior year. She was followed in the goal department by Rios (nine), Sanchez (seven), senior Savannah Andrews (five) and freshman Charli Preister (five). The Gretna native Andrews enjoyed a fine career of her own with 30 goals and 13 assists over 71 games. As a sophomore, Rios stepped up her game while increasing her goal count from four as a freshman.
It was the type of well-rounded squad that Smith sought to build when he first arrived at Concordia in March of 2023. Opponents couldn’t simply key in on Garner – or the Bulldogs would burn them with one of their many other attacking weapons. In addition, the Bulldogs were solid defensively while led at center back by Rowe and Slaymaker. At outside back, Shelby Rugg returned from injury and started all 20 games. When injury occurred to keeper Aaliyah Matthews early in the season, Grady Smith and Aliya Vidro were there to fill the void. The team also successfully integrated a group of talented freshmen, including Preister, Sanchez, Abby Haynes and Evie Keller.
Those underclassmen will assume larger roles while growing throughout this offseason. They’ve had a strong group of senior leaders to look up to. That senior class was made up of – in addition to Andrews, Garner, Kirchner, Rugg and Ruiz – Augustine Abshagen, Abigail Allen, Selah Draper, Hannah Kile, Sierra Springer and Ashlee Trujillo.
Smith and the program will miss them for many reasons. Said Smith, “This senior class has been with me my entire time here. I got them in their second semester as freshmen. I’ve done a lot of growing with them. The ability within that senior class is incredibly high. I’m going to miss them. I’m going to miss their personalities. I’m going to miss the attitude and the willingness of theirs to make things better here. They were tremendous examples for the players coming in as to what we want Bulldog players to look like. It’s disappointing as to how it ends for that group for me. Mor than anything, I’m going to miss them as people and the interactions we have day-to-day and those interactions on the field before and after training. It’s a group that’s going to stick with me for a long time.”
Those seniors will always cherish the memory of the 2024 national tournament win over Benedictine College (Kan.) and the togetherness that came with the highs and lows over four seasons. In 2025, the Bulldogs received votes nationally for nearly the entire season. From the start, Concordia showed it had the ability to compete on a national level. It drew, 3-3 with No. 23 University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma (in a game it could have easily won) and celebrated the historic win over fourth-ranked Columbia in the season’s opening weekend. The Bulldogs navigated all the way into October before finally tasting a defeat.
The trick now is for Concordia to redefine itself and continue the program’s momentum.
“There’s certainly some disappointment at the end of our season,” Smith said. “That disappointment is only there because of the expectations that have been created. We have some big players leaving, but the program goals are the exact same. I hate losing. I don’t want to lose any game ever. Losing only two games this year sets a standard for what the expectations are moving forward. Are we going to be the same look of a team this coming fall? Probably not. Our identity is going to probably have to reshape a little bit. We’ve got a group of players that is hungry to try to find what our next level is. We’re looking for championships and to be in the national tournament. That’s what our goals are going to be next fall.”