ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul soccer team kicks off the 2016 season this weekend as they travel to Missouri to play a pair of region opponents in Lindenwood (Mo.) and Maryville (Mo.). The Golden Bears take on the LU on Friday at 3 p.m. in St. Charles and then travel southeast to St. Louis to play MU on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
The Golden Bears open up the season with three straight road games before returning to their home turf to take on Minnesota Duluth in the NSIC opener. "We are getting preparing well for these opening road games. Road trips are good for team chemistry and getting to know each other better. We are excited and looking forward to a good opening weekend down in Missouri." head coach Steve Bellis said of the early season slate.
 
Concordia-St. Paul will then travel down to La Crosse, Wis. to play a solid D-III team in Viterbo whom the Golden Bears beat 4-3 in double overtime at Sea Foam Stadium last season.
 
This weekend's meetings with Lindenwood (Mo.) and Maryville (Mo.) marks the first meeting with either school as the Golden Bears look to see where they are at heading into league play. "We haven't played either of these teams before, it was an open invitation so we are taking this opportunity to face off against two solid teams in our region." Bellis added.
 
Following the three non-conference tests, the Golden Bears will hit the ground running in NSIC play as they host the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth on Sept. 16 at 7 pm. UMD was picked to finish seventh, just in-front of Concordia St. Paul, in the pre-season poll and won last year's match-up 4-2 in Duluth.
 
"Friday night under the lights, at our home stadium, with our home fans, against one of the conferences original powerhouses - Fantastic! We couldn't be more exited to test ourselves in the NSIC and get a real read on how things look for us this season. We've prepared as well as possible and our players are certainly motivated and ready. Nothing beats this kind of opportunity." said Bellis of the matchup with the Bulldogs.
 
Concordia has had the opportunity to get a little glimpse of where things are at following three scrimmages which have given the coaching staff an opportunity to see some different things from the team going into the year.
 
Bellis said, "We had a good standard of playing in our Alumni Game. We then traveled to St. Olaf and we struggled out of the gate but kicked it into gear in the second half. Our final preseason we traveled to Augsburg and played well, we notched one goal and we didn't allow any goals. Overall, three good games and three good results."
 
The Golden Bears will be a very young team this season having lost 10 seniors which included five All-NSIC performers. However, CSP brought in 10 freshmen to the mix and returns 17 letter winners which has given the team several solid options at each position to fill in for those lost seniors.
 
"When you replace 10 seniors with 10 freshmen, you are always going to get a few unknowns and we are still on the unknown at this point, however we have a great group of returners and we are quite confident that we can repeat last year's feat of making the playoffs and with the addition of these freshman, I feel we can reach that goal." Bellis said of this year's squad.
 
Perhaps the biggest area of strength for Concordia-St. Paul is their technicality. All of the players want to contribute in one way or another and they all have the skill set to do so. Most players can play with both feet comfortably which adds another dimension to this teams skill set. "We are more technical than we were last year and we can rely more on our pace, which is very exciting." said Bellis.
 
Senior forward Chelsie Lindsay will be leaned heavily upon to help lead the Golden Bear offensive attack in 2016. Lindsay made 19 appearances and 14 starts last season while leading the team in assists with six and finishing second in goals scored with five for a total of 16 points.
 
"Chelsie is good goal scorer for us upfront, which is yet another added strength to our team, she brings experience and I feel she could have a great senior season." Bellis said of Lindsay.
 
Outside of Lindsay, sophomore midfielder Mary Kaiser and freshman forward Leah Johnson are expected to find the back of the net on multiple occasions this season and help lead the Golden Bears offensive attack.
 
"Mary has great potential and will score goals for us this year while Leah has great pace, she will get behind defenders and she is tenacious which will help her score goals for us." Bellis said of Kaiser and Johnson.
 
Another newcomer that has been performing well and will look to compete for immediate playing time is freshman forward Hannah Pederson. "Hannah has great speed and she draws similar resemblance to recent graduate Mackenzie Buck who had ferocious speed. She is very technical, can play with both feet and has set up a pair of nice goals in our preseason games." Bellis said of Pederson.
 
In the midfield, Erica Landry, Brooke Salo, Madyson St. Germain and Jordan Rowan-Stafford give the Golden Bears some weapons on both ends of the field. "Our midfielders all saw playing time last year giving us a strong spine in the middle of the field which will help us control the pace and lead counter offensive attacks." Bellis said of the four.
 
The Golden Bears have a big task at hand replacing All-NSIC goalkeeper Emma Gartner, but have three qualified candidates to fill that void, in junior Kate Mallory, sophomore Emily Nelson, and freshman Jordyn Clark. Of the three though it has been Clark who has come in and made her presence known in goal.
 
When speaking of Clark, Bellis said, "Jordyn is very technical, she has a good voice and character, good hands and is very brave, I feel she will be a great addition to our goalkeeping crew."
 
Concordia graduated nearly its entire defensive back line and it will basically be a new back four this season. In turn, they are getting used to playing with each other which is building chemistry and communication on the defensive side of the field.
 
"We want to be defensively compact and have everyone be on the same page. We are getting there and we will get a better look at where we are at when we go into this weekend's games." Bellis said of the defense.
 
Shannon Wynne has been said to be making the move from midfielder to right defensive back. She has fit in well with the defensive group and has performed well during training camp. "Shannon had a good offseason and has really stepped up this season." Said Bellis when speaking of Wynne.
 
"It is going to be an exciting season, we have new group of players, we continue to develop as a program over the years and it should be a great year, so come out and watch us play." Bellis said in his closing statement.
 
Follow along this weekend as live stats and live video links will be provided on the schedule page. Check back to cugoldenbears.com/soccer for all soccer updates this season.