Men’s soccer standout Denis Dugas compiled a prolific career as a forward for the Owls, playing on the most successful team in school history.

Dugas played three seasons for Westfield State, from 1973-1975 in which the Owls dominated with a 48-10-4 record in that three-year span, advancing to the NCAA Tournament each season.

In the 1974 season, his team posted a 17-4-2 record and won MASCAC championship. The team advanced deep into the NCAA tournament.

In the Northeast Regional Final against Framingham, Dugas buried a pair of second half goals to distance the Owls in a 3-0 win that propelled the Owls to the NCAA Division III Final Four, eventually finishing third in the nation.

In the 1974 season, Dugas scored five goals in a single game against Nichols, which is the second-best single game in Owls history. The stellar performance would help propel him as the team’s offensive player of the year in 1974, when he recorded a school-record total of 62 points.

He set a school single-season record with 26 goals scored in the ‘74 season, which still stands today.

In 1975, he scored at least one goal in eleven straight games, the longest consecutive goal-scoring streak in WSU history.

The career numbers for Dugas also highlight his impact with the Owls team. He ranks sixth in career scoring with 127 points, sixth in career goals (49), and seventh in career assists (29).

A resident of Southampton, Mass. and a criminal justice major at Westfield State, Dugas served as a police officer in Easthampton for seven years before opening his own construction company – Denis J. Dugas Construction.

He also served as a soccer official, and has been active coaching his sons’, and now his grandson’s youth soccer teams.

Happily married to Linda, his wife of 44 years, who sadly passed in December, Dennis and Linda raised three sons – Eric, Brian, and Jeffrey, and have six grandchildren – all active in youth sports.