ST. PAUL, Minn. - In a dramatic overtime finish, the Golden Bears soccer team (7-4-1, 5-3-1 NSIC) defeated the Wayne State Wildcats (3-5-4, 2-4-3 NSIC) on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium. The Bears are now tied with Winona State for sixth in the NSIC standings.

This is the eighth season in Concordia's Division II history, where they have won seven or more games and this year's squad still has six games left in the regular season. This was also the fifth time that the Bears and the Wildcats needed overtime sessions to decide a winner. In those five overtime games, the Bears were never defeated. This was the third time that the Bears have walked away with a victory and in the other two overtime matchups, the games remained tied, which occurred in last season's game.
 
In this year's game, the Bears got off to a slow start as they allowed Wayne State to score in the fifth minute when Wildcat Hannah Knight buried a cross pass that got by goalkeeper Emily Nelson. After the goal, the play went back and forth between the teams until the Bears started to dominate possession in the second part of the first half. In keeping the possession down on the Wildcat end of the field, the Bears offense started to create some chances, including taking three corner kicks in the last nine minutes of the half. On one of these corners, junior Jade Weller headed a shot towards the net but it was blocked by an opposing defender. Junior Jordan Rowan-Stafford also had an open chance in the box, but a defender caught up to her and blocked her shot just in time. The Bears would go into the halftime break with the shot advantage (6-5) but trailing Wayne State 1-0.
 
The second half began similarly to how the first half finished, with a lot of pressure on the Wildcat end of the field. CSP took the first five shots of the half. The Wildcats then battled back, creating some chances of their own. They took four corner kicks in under four minutes, but the Golden Bear defense held tough only allowing one shot to be taken from these corner kicks.
 
In the 69^th minute, it was Brooke Salo who found the back of the net for the Bears to tie up the game. She took a pass from teammate Rowan-Stafford and shot it into the top right corner of the net, despite being surrounded by Wildcat defenders. This was Salo's second goal of the season and Rowan-Stafford's fifth assist. The Bears took two more shots in the half, but it remained tied as regulation time expired and the teams headed into overtime.
 
It did not take long for the game to be decided once overtime began, as 33 seconds in, freshman Kiara Myers made a nice move to get past the opposing defenders and lofted a shot over the goalie's head to win it for the Golden Bears. The goal was Myers' second this season, with her first collegiate goal being scored just this past Friday at Augustana. This was, however, her first game-winner.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Nelson secured the victory, making her 4-3 on the season. She added three saves on the day, to increase her save number to 20 on the year.
 
The Bears remain at home for their next two conference games, when they take on Minnesota State Moorhead on October 14th and Northern State on October 15^th. Both games are set to start at 1 p.m. Come out to Sea Foam Stadium to support CSP Golden Bear soccer or follow along online at cspbears.com/watch.