MANKATO, Minn. – The eighth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (8-10-1) fell to top-seeded #3 Minnesota State (17-1-1) 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals.
 
The Golden Bears played the Mavericks significantly closer than the final score as CSP went into the half down only one and remained within two until the final 10 minutes of the game. Concordia matched their mark for their most wins in a season since the 2006 season as they made their first trip back to the conference tournament since 2009.
 
The Golden Bears moved to 2-7 in seven trips to the NSIC Tournament and 0-13 in the all-time series against the Mavericks.
 
Senior McKenzie Buck scored her fourth of the season in her final game for the Golden Bears in the first half while freshman Jordan Rowan-Stafford added her second of the year in the second half to wrap up the scoring for Concordia on the day. Buck led the team with two shots on goal in an active performance while Rowan-Stafford, Jessica Bianchi and Alahna Anderson added the other shots on net for CSP.
 
The Golden Bears and the Mavericks played even through the opening minutes as the two teams got their legs under them. The defenses stood their ground early on as neither team was able to create much in the offensive zone.
 
The first real opportunity came in the 14^th minute as the Mavericks drew a corner. The cross came in the box and bounced around before Lexi Pszanka drove it over Gartner's head and into the back of the net to give Minnesota State a 1-0 lead.
 
MSU forced another corner six minutes later and this time Abby Hausken delivered the right to Pszanka in the box and she headed it home to extend the lead to 2-0 as it appeared that the Mavericks were beginning to pull away.
 
Concordia had different ideas as they quickly rebounded and pushed into the offensive zone. McKenzie Buck was a consistent catalyst as she used her speed to put pressure on the Maverick defense. Buck's work was finally rewarded late in the half as she took a feed from Kelli Heytens and drilled it off the crossbar and in to cut the lead in half in the 43^rd minute. The goal gave CSP momentum heading into the break.
 
That momentum didn't lead to results early in the second half as the Mavericks added to their lead just 10 minutes in. Korey Kronforst intercepted an errant CSP pass intended for Gartner in the 56^th minutes and snuck behind the keeper before rolling it into the back of the net to push the advantage to 3-1.
 
Minnesota State wasted no time adding to that lead as Maddy Burandt tacked on another goal just a minute later to make it 4-1 with 33 minutes left in the match.
 
Concordia responded with some inspired play as they pushed it back down in their offensive end to stem the tide and regain some of that momentum. The stout MSU defense limited the chances near the goal but the Golden Bears found another way to score as Jordan Rowan-Stafford launched a shot from around 20 yards out and slipped it past the keeper into the left side of the net to bring CSP back within two at 4-2 to make a game of it.
 
After a few near misses for the Mavericks, Concordia pushed back down as they looked to further cut into the deficit. They were unable to capitalize on any of those chances as Minnesota State eventually put the game out of reach.
 
Julia Zach connected on a ball out in front of the net on the far side of the net off a free kick in the 80^th minute to push the lead back to three before Morgan Cottew struck in the 81^st minute bring the score to a final of 6-2.