ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (9-5-1, 7-4-1 NSIC) fell in the 87^th minute to the Minot State Beavers (10-4-1, 9-3 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Bears return to a tie for fifth place with Winona State, who the Bears will play in less than a week from today.
 
"The Bears showed a ton of quality today and we have to feel a little unfortunate having had chances cleared off the line and hitting the bar. But sometimes that's the game and we have to show the character to bounce back on Sunday," head coach Steve Bellis said about today's match.
 
This is the third time in the past three years that the Bears have had one-goal games against the Beavers, each time coming up just short.  In the 2015 and 2016 matchups, the Beavers scored early in first half and held on for the win. This year, it remained scoreless until the last three minutes of play when Minot's freshman Sophia Lewis found the back of the net. Lewis is currently tied for the most goals in the NSIC with 11.
 
In the first half there was a lot of play back and forth, with neither defense allowing many shots. The Bears were held to two shots in the half, both taken by junior midfielder Jordan Rowan-Stafford. The Beavers took five shots, but only one was on goal. For one of her shots, Rowan-Stafford made some nice moves to get around the defense to take a clear shot from outside the box, but it went wide. The Concordia defense had to hold off a number of free kicks within thirty yards and three corner kicks, but still only allowed one shot on goal, which sophomore goalkeeper Jordyn Clark saved.
 
The Golden Bears had many offensive chances in the second half and outshot the Beavers 7-3 in the half. Their first chance came in the 52^nd minute when freshman Cayla Renwick shot it inside the box but it was deflected by the Beaver's goalie. Rowan-Stafford got the deflection and got a shot off that hit the crossbar.  CSP had another close chance when junior Brooke Salo beat the Minot defenders, but her shot was blocked by the goalie. Rowan-Stafford was again there for the rebound but her shot went high. The Bears hit the crossbar again in the 74^th minute, but were unable to get on the board.
 
In the 87^th minute, the Beavers were awarded a free kick and Kelli Creese found teammate Sophia Lewis who slid it past Jordyn Clark to score. The Bears were able to get one last shot off in the last three minutes, but it went wide as Minot went on to win 1-0.
 
Jordyn Clark had two saves, but took the loss in net for the Bears and is now 3-2-1 on the year.
 
The Golden Bears play again tomorrow, October 22^nd, as they take on U-Mary in North Dakota at 1 p.m. The Marauders are 6-4-2 and are one place behind CSP in the NSIC standings. Follow along online at cspbears.com/watch for this NSIC matchup.