The Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (3-1-1, 1-0-1 NSIC) continues NSIC play after a win over St. Cloud State and a tie with Minnesota Duluth this past weekend. The Golden Bears take on both Southwest Minnesota State (0-5, 0-3 NSIC) and Sioux Falls (3-2-1, 2-0-1 NSIC) this week.
The Bears first return to Sea Foam Stadium to take on the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State. Overall, the Bears have an 8-11-1 record against Southwest, but have gone 1-2 in the past three years. In both the 2014 and 2015 games, the Mustangs won with 1-0 scores, but in 2014 that goal came off a penalty kick in the 61
st minute, whereas in 2015 they scored in the 13
th minute and held off 14 of Concordia's shots to win. The Golden Bears were victorious in the 2016 matchup, with both
Chelsie Lindsay and
Jade Weller scoring in the second half to lift CSP over Southwest 2-1.
The Mustangs are currently 0-5 on the year and 0-3 in conference play. Their conference losses were against Sioux Falls, Northern State, and MSU Moorhead, all of whom the Bears have yet to play. Southwest returns 16 players, including top goal-scorer, junior Emily Huddleston, and add five newcomers to the mix. Huddleston scored seven times last season and tallied three assists; she has scored once so far this season. They also return an experienced goalie, sophomore Jessica Craigmile, who started in all 18 games that they played last season and has started all five games this year. Craigmile recorded 85 saves and had a .691 save percentage in her 2016 campaign and currently has made 21 saves and has a .583 save percentage.
After this home matchup, the Bears will then travel to Sioux Falls to take on the Cougars. In conference play, the Bears are overall 4-1 against the Cougars. In both 2014 and 2015, the Golden Bear offense had solid games, scoring three goals in each contest to help secure victories both years. In the 2016 game, CSP outshot Sioux Falls 26-4 and also had the advantage in shots on goal (9-1) but Sioux Falls scored in the 38
th minute off a deflection which ended up being the game-winner.
Sioux Falls remains undefeated in conference play thus far with wins over Southwest Minnesota State and Northern State, and a tie against MSU Moorhead. The Cougars return 17 players, but lose their top goal-scorer from the 2016 season. Sophomore Lauren Lafavre was their next top offensive player with two goals and three assists in 2016 and has three goals so far this season. Another player to watch out for is freshman Morgan Lovato who has started her collegiate career with two goals and an assist while taking a team-leading 19 shots for the Cougars. Sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Perkins has started all five games for them this year and currently has a .814 save percentage. As a freshman, Perkins started in all 18 games for the Cougars and recorded 119 saves for a .810 save percentage.
The Bears started their conference schedule this past weekend with a 1-0 win over St. Cloud and a 2-2 tie against Minnesota Duluth. Against St. Cloud junior forward
Brooke Salo had the game-winner off a free kick pass from teammate
Jade Weller. Sophomore goalkeeper
Jordyn Clark had five saves for her second shutout of the season. Junior
Leah Johnson and sophomore
Hannah Pavek had the goals in the game against Duluth, with Pavek earning an assist as well for her first career points as a Golden Bear.
Concordia continues to have many offensive threats, as eight different players have scored a goal each this season. In net, both Clark and
Emily Nelson have seen game time for the Bears so far. Clark has started the past three games and currently has a save percentage of .857.
Follow along with all the soccer action this week at cspbears.com/watch
