ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Golden Bears soccer team (2-6-4, 2-3-4 NSIC) lost a very close matchup to Minnesota State (8-3-1, 7-2 NSIC) Wednesday night at Sea Foam Stadium by a score of 1-0.
 
MSU almost jumped out to an early lead when Morgan Cottew had a one-on-one with goalkeeper Emily Nelson, but Nelson made an incredible diving save to her right preventing the Mavericks from taking an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Mavericks came out firing as they outshot Concordia 8-3 in the first 45 minutes of play. MSU almost jumped out to an early lead when Morgan Cottew had a one-on-one with goalkeeper Emily Nelson, but Nelson made an incredible diving save to her right preventing the Mavericks from taking an early 1-0 lead. Nelson would make four total saves in the first half.
 
Coming out in the second half, Minnesota State would continue putting pressure on the Golden Bear defense as they were able to jump out to a 1-0 lead at the 50th minute of the game. MSU's Morgan Cottew would receive a pass from Taylor Kenealy, about 10 yards away from the net and then shoot the ball just past the diving reach of Nelson scoring her 10th goal of the season.
 
For the remainder of the game, it was pretty well balanced as Minnesota State would just out shoot 7-6 in the second half. Caitlin Foley would have a chance to add to the Mavericks lead as she fired a point blank shot, but Nelson would yet again make an incredible save to keep the deficit at one with 6:38 remaining in tie game.
 
Three minutes later the Golden Bears had their best chance to tie the game as they would be awarded a free kick from about 30 yards away. Jade Weller fired a low shot at the net that was redirected just wide of the net by Jordan Rowan-Stafford.
 
Morgan Cottew and Dana Savino would lead MSU with three shots apiece, while Taylor Kealy and Jenny Hoerter would each added two shots on the evening. Mary Kaiser would lead the Golden Bears with three shots for the game. Katri Gifford and Jordan Rowan-Stafford added a pair of shots for CSP.
 
Nelson would finish the night with seven saves while Alexa Rabune made four saves for MSU.
 
The Mavericks would outshoot CSP 15-9 for the game.
 
Concordia will now take to the road this weekend for a pair of road games as they travel to Northern State on Saturday for a 1 pm start and then travel to MSU Moorhead on Sunday also for a 1 pm start.