Twito, Dawgs head into postseason with a win

By Jacob Knabel on Oct. 27, 2021 in Women's Soccer

By Sam Firminhac, Athletic Communications

CRETE, Neb. – The Concordia University Women’s Soccer team defeated Doane on Wednesday night (Oct. 27) in its final regular-season contest to clinch a spot in the GPAC tournament. On a rainy night, the Bulldog defense was impenetrable, shutting out their opponent for the second straight game and securing the 1-0 victory. This also marks the ninth consecutive win against their conference foe. Michaela Twito scored the lone goal in the match while notching the fourth game-winner of her standout career.

Head Coach Thomas Goines’ squad ended the regular season at 9-6-2 overall and 6-4-2 in the GPAC. Pending the results this weekend, Concordia could place as high as fifth in the final conference standings.

“Obviously the weather plays a factor,” Goines said. “It rained throughout and was one of those games where it’s not going to be pretty soccer for either team. First half, I thought we did really well in managing the game. Second half, you have to give credit to Doane. They outworked us for a large portion of it and we didn’t match their energy. The game became a little bit ugly. We were forced to defend our lead, which we were able to do. We didn’t give up many major chances. We’ll take the win any day in rainy, cold conditions.”

The stat line showed just how stellar Concordia’s defense was holding the Tigers to just seven shots, compared to the Bulldogs’ 12. Doane only managed three shots on goal, all of which were saved by goalkeeper Kalie Ward. ‘Rocket’ made a diving save on a free kick at the end of the first half and denied an attack from the Tigers in the 86th minute.

Tiger goalkeeper Danielle Dubovy had a solid night picking up four saves, but Twito would not be denied in her final regular-season game as a Bulldog, finding the back of the net in the 44th minute. Two years earlier, Twito surfaced with the golden goal to knock off Doane in double overtime.

Concordia will have the weekend off and start to prepare for the. GPAC tournament. The opponent for the Bulldogs quarterfinal match has yet to be determined but will be a road game next Thursday (Nov. 4). Goines believes his side has earned some much-needed time off.

Said Goines, “I think it's good to have a few days to decompress, focus on school and enjoy a weekend to themselves. It's going to be good for them to have a little rest. We'll figure out who our opponent is soon and we'll refocus on trying to find our way through the playoffs. This is the second season so now we have to try to figure out how to win one game at a time. That's the mentality, but for now, we'll enjoy having another winning season.”

As for Doane, its season will end on Saturday when it hosts Northwestern. At 3-12-1 overall (1-9-1 GPAC), the Tigers are not in the running for a postseason berth.