ST. PAUL, Minn. -  The Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (10-7-1, 8-6-1 NSIC) dropped their last regular season match to the Upper Iowa Peacocks (5-11-1, 5-9-1 NSIC) on a cold and cloudy Sunday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium. The Golden Bears ended their regular season conference schedule in sixth place as they head into the NSIC conference tournament.
 
The Bears will face Augustana, who ended in third place in the regular season, in the first round of the playoffs in Sioux Falls on Wednesday, November 1^st at 3 p.m.  
 
The Bears are now 7-8 in their series history against the Peacocks. In both the 2015 and 2016 matchups, CSP came out on top, winning 4-0 in 2015 and 3-2 in 2016. In this year's matchup, the Bears outshot their opponents 17-7 but were only able to put three of those shots on goal. The Peacocks made the most of their seven shots, keeping goalkeeper Jordyn Clark busy, putting all but two on goal.
 
The first 20 minutes of the game were played back and forth, with only three shots being taken, all by CSP. In the 21^st minute, the Peacocks took their first shot off a set piece that was headed in by an Upper Iowa attacker. The Bears answered right back, though, as junior midfielder Jordan Rowan-Stafford scored less than 50 seconds later to tie it up 1-1. Rowan-Stafford took a pass from teammate Jade Weller, dribbled around some defenders in the box, and put it past the opponent goalie in the bottom left corner of the net. This was Rowan-Stafford's fourth goal of the year, as she moves up two spots in the CSP record book to be tied for 11^th in most career points. Weller tallied her second assist of the year on the play and now has ten points on the season.
 
The rest of the half was played mostly on the Peacock side of the field and the Bears held a 10-2 shot advantage at the half. During the halftime break, the Bears recognized their two seniors, Kelli Heytens and Shannon Wynne, as they were honored on the field with their parents.
 
The second half opened with excitement on both ends of the field as Upper Iowa had two chances within the first minute and then Rowan-Stafford attacked again, just barely missing her second goal of the game as her shot hit the post and was cleared by the Peacocks. After that, it settled more into back and forth play between the two teams. The Bears had another good set of opportunities when they were awarded a free kick 30 yards out and then a corner kick right after that, but they were unable to convert.
 
The score would remain tied until the 86^th minute when Upper Iowa player Jordyn Ostrowski beat a CSP defender to a deflection off of goalkeeper Jordyn Clark and put it into the bottom left corner of the net to help the Peacocks take a 2-1 lead. The Bears played aggressively on the Upper Iowa side of the field, getting two shots off in the last four minutes, but they were unable to score. The Golden Bears also outshot the Peacocks in the second half (7-5).
 
The offense was led by Rowan-Stafford who took four shots in the game. Four other Golden Bear players also took two shots apiece, as ten total players took shots for CSP. Clark had three saves in net, but falls to 3-4-1 on the season.
 
The Bears have a few days of practice before the first round of the NSIC playoffs on Wednesday, November 1^st. They travel to Augustana for a 3 p.m. game. If the Bears win this first game, they will play again on November 3^rd against the winner of Winona State and Bemidji State. If you are unable to make it in person on Wednesday, follow along online at cspbears.com/watch.