The golden bears (2-4, 1-2 nsic) were unable to complete a fourth quarter comeback on homecoming as they were defeated 23-21 by sw minnesota state (3-3, 2-1 nsic) on saturday evening at griffin stadium in st. Paul, minn.

the loss for the golden bears snaps a six-game winning streak against the mustangs dating back to 1999. Smsu converted a fourth and one at midfield with just over a minute to play before running out the clock on cu who needed one more possession to attempt to complete their comeback.

the mustangs went ahead 23-14 when smsu kicker scott talcott drilled his career-high third field goal of the game with 5:37. Earlier in the quarter he converted his second after the bears pulled within three points late in the third quarter on senior runningback aaron cawthorn's one yard td run.

the nine-point deficit proved too much for cu to overcome despite a strong second half offensive effort sparked by 190 second half passing yards by junior quarterback kole goodchild (left).

goodchild finished the game with 202 yards passing, completing 15-33 with one td pass and no interceptions.

the game started off rough for the bears as smsu pulled ahead 14-0 early in the second quarter. Their first two scores each came on six play drives that were capped by one yard td runs. Both drives started with short fields as smsu recovered a fumble on a punt return at the cu 25 that set up their first quarter td while a short punt set up the mustangs at the cu 44 for their second td.

trailing 14-0, the concordia offense got creative as junior runningback eric clinton (left) connected with senior wide receiver cecil elekwachi (right) for a 49 yard scoring strike through the air on a halfback option passing play.

the mustangs added a field goal as the bears trailed 17-7 at the half as they mustered 17 offensive plays in the opening 30 minutes as smsu held a 19:15 to 10:45 time of possession advantage while amassing 11 first downs to concordia's two.

the second half was a different story, however, as the golden bear defense clamped down, allowing just 10 rushing yards in 13 attempts and 67 passing yards on 13 smsu passes.

meanwhile, the offense went to work with 180 yards in the second half after managing 71 in the first half. But they would never cut the score closer than three late in the third quarter.

of concordia's 16 team completions, 15 went to four players as sophomore tyrone ruffin (left), senior jason simmons and junior antwon williams each hauled in four receptions with three going to elekwachi.

elekwachi turned in a team-best 87 receiving yards on his three receptions including the 47 yard td. Ruffin added 70 yards which included a long of 43.

the concordia run defense surrendered just 56 yards on 30 smsu attempts but the rushing offense was held to two yards in the game on 20 attempts. Cawthorn led the ground game with 11 carries for 29 yards and a score.

sophomore linebacker duy huynh (right) had a career-high 14 tackles as he was all over the ball to lead the concordia defense, which held the mustangs to 247 yards of total offense, four fewer yards than the bears' 251. Of huynh's 14 tackles, eight were solo and one was for loss.

senior defensive end travis mellor (left) disrupted the mustang passing attack with three sacks, a fumble forced and four tackles for loss of his five total tackles. The bears also got sacks from senior defensive tackles brandon sullivan and eric power, with sullivan posting six tackles and power adding four tackles, 1.5 for loss with a hurry.

the bears will look to snap their two game skid next saturday, october 14, when they travel to msu moorhead for a 1:00 contest against the dragons.