ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (6-6, 5-4 NSIC) travels to #25 Augustana (10-1-1, 8-0-1 NSIC) on Saturday and Wayne State (1-8-3, 1-7-1 NSIC) on Sunday in their final road weekend of the regular season.
 
The Golden Bears find themselves in the middle of a hard fought battle to earn a place in the NSIC Tournament heading into the weekend with just six regular season matches to play. CSP's recent stretch of strong play has put them in position to earn a spot as they currently sit in a tie for seventh place with Bemidji State and Southwest Minnesota State. Concordia currently holds a five point lead over 10th-placed Minnesota Duluth and six points ahead of 11^th-placed Minnesota Crookston while sitting just a point behind Upper Iowa for sixth, two points behind Winona State for fifth and three points behind Winona State for fourth.
 
Last weekend, Concordia split with U-Mary and Minot State as the Golden Bears cruised to a 3-1 win over the Marauders and dropped an even-matched 1-0 loss to the Beavers.
 
On Saturday, McKenzie Buck opened the scoring and Chelsie Lindsay later scored the game-winner before Kaitlyn Halvorson tacked on an insurance goal in the first half to give the red hot Golden Bears the win. It was a high-paced game with a total of 38 shots, including 13 on goal, as both teams created numerous chances throughout the day. Both teams finished with 19 shots as U-Mary edged CSP 7-6 on shots on goal.
 
On Sunday, put up an impressive defensive performance on Sunday afternoon but fell just short in a 1-0 loss to Minot State (10-1-1, 8-0-1 NSIC) on Sea Foam Stadium. The Golden Bears continued to play at a high level as they matched the Beavers shot-for-shot on Sunday. Outside of a goal for Minot State off the foot of Ninfa Ramirez in the 10th minute, it was even throughout the day with both teams showing class on both ends of the field.
 
Saturday's match with the Vikings of Augustana marks the 10^th meeting between the two schools with the Golden Bears holding a 2-6-1 record in the nine previous meetings. After a 2-1 CSP win in 2012 in St. Paul, Augie has won both meetings over the past two seasons with a 3-1 win in Sioux Falls two years ago and 2-1 win in double overtime in St. Paul last year.
 
In last year's match, the Vikings scored with just 1:29 left in the second overtime to claim a 2-1 victory at Sea Foam Stadium. Alahna Anderson picked up a rebound off a Sarah Pieper shot off the crossbar the 82^nd minute and put it in the back of the net in the ensuing battle for the ball to even the score at one apiece and force overtime.
 
Concordia will look to improve on their 11-7-1 record against Wayne State on Sunday afternoon in the 20^th meeting between the Golden Bears and the Wildcats. The Golden Bears have been extremely successful over the past 10 years against WSC with eight wins and a tie over a span of 11 meetings. The Wildcats snapped CSP's three match winning streak in the series last season in St. Paul.
 
Last season, Wayne State claimed a 3-2 win after seeing a 2-0 lead disappear. The Golden Bears burst out of the gate in the second half with a spirited effort and it didn't take long for it to pay off. Sam McBain headed in her second goal of the year off a corner from Emily Ecklund to cut the lead in half. Just 30 seconds later Sarah Pieper won a battle for the ball right near the left goal post and slipped it in the back of the net to even it up. McKenzie Buck and Jessica Bianchi picked up assists on Pieper's first of the season. The two teams battled it out with neither team creating the go-ahead goal until McKenna Adams put the Wildcats on top with a header off a corner with 1:06 to play from Mallory Hoyt to send the WSC bench into a frenzy.
 
Live stats for both games and live video for Saturday's match will be available at the links above.