st. Paul, minn. €" a late game goal by sophomore lauren nelson put the golden bears on top 2-1 in a hotly contested nsic duel with the beavers of bemidji state. Concordia goalkeeper keyton wheelock made 10 saves to help her team improve to 6-8-0 overall and 3-4-0 in the nsic. The beavers entered the game tied with cu in the nsic standings and now fall to 8-5-0 overall and 2-5-0 in league play.

with the regular season winding down and the battle to make the nsic tournament heating up, the intensity of today’s meeting at concordia field rose higher as the time ticked down. The golden bears unknotted the game at the 72:33 mark, the scoring play starting out with a corner kick, which was rare in today’s matchup. The corner from chloe weinberg danced around in front of the goal for a period of time before concordia’s lauren nelson came in with her second goal of the season, putting the ball in the far corner of the net.

although they had the lead, the golden bears were anything but in the clear as the beavers ratcheted up the pressure in the waning minutes. keyton wheelock made a number of close saves in front of the concordia goal to earn her fifth win of the year. She only had to save one ball in the first period, but stopped nine shots on goal in the second period.

the golden bears were the aggressors through much of the game, working to untie the nsic standings between the teams. They fired early and took the momentum with a goal in the first ten minutes of play. Weinberg crossed a ball from the left side of the field directly in front of the net. She drew bemidji keeper samantha ross toward the ball while concordia senior sam voeller raced in to put the pass in the back side of the net for her first season goal. The score came at the 8:58 mark of the game.

the golden bear defense shut out the beavers in the first half, allowing only five shots on their way to the 1-0 halftime lead. Concordia had nine shots, two on-goal.

the golden bears put themselves in position to score a number of times early in the second period, but the ball continually missed the net by a small margin. It was the beavers who took advantage of their first scoring opportunity in the second period to tie the game. The beavers had a shot blocked in front of the net and ashlee ellefsen slipped in to bury her ninth goal of the year at the 9:14 mark of the period. Despite their fierce efforts, they would not get lucky again in the game and went down 2-1.

the matchup evened itself out in virtually all areas. Concordia had 22 shots to bsu’s 23 and ten shots on goal to their opponent’s 11. Weinberg pushed the pace of the game on offense, putting four of her seven shots on goal and contributing with the assist, her fourth of the season. Voeller had two shots on goal.

the golden bears continue play at concordia field, hosting minnesota duluth on sunday at 1:00 pm.