ST. PAUL, Minn. – After sweeping their homecoming weekend, the #22 Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (9-0-2, 6-0-2 NSIC) will continue their homestand this weekend against the defending NSIC champions, the Bemidji State university Beavers and the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles. The Golden Bears will play the Beavers on Friday at 7 p.m. and then face the Golden Eagles on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will be at Sea Foam Stadium. 
 
The Bears continue their historic undefeated streak and are currently still sitting in second place in the NSIC with 20 points. This is a big improvement from last season, as the Golden Bears were sitting in fifth place with 15 conference points a year ago. Bemidji State and Augustana are still tied for first as they each are 7-0-1 in conference action and both have 22 conference points. Minnesota State sits behind Concordia with a 6-2 record in conference play and 18 conference points. Wayne State is behind the Mavericks with a 5-2-1 record in conference play and 16 conference points. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
On Friday, the Golden Bears hosted the University of Sioux Falls Cougars on a cold snowy night at Sea Foam Stadium. The Bears and Cougars battled through the elements and it was freshman Katie Anderson who struck first in the 11^th minute, she was assisted by Hannah Pavek. The Bears would strike again in the 23^rd minute when Hannah Pedersen scored on a ball from Nikki Anderson to give CSP a 2-0 lead. A minute and 19 seconds before the end of the half, Grace Held snuck a shot by Jordyn Clark to make it a 2-1 game going into the second half. The Golden Bears used the wind to their advantage in the second half as they dominated with ball control. Nikki Anderson would score the only goal of the half for Concordia as she buried a goal in the 57^th minute to make it a 3-1 game which would be the final score. Anderson was assisted by Leah Johnson. The Golden Bears outshot the Cougars 24-5 in this game while putting 15 shots on net, the Golden Bear defense only allowed three shots on net for the Cougars. 
 
On Sunday, Concordia battled Southwest Minnesota State on a rainy afternoon. It was a back and forth game as the Golden Bears had the majority of scoring chances, they outshot the Mustangs 10-3 in the first half and 12-5 in the second half. CSP had nine shots on net throughout the game and SMSU had three. Concordia had 10 corner kicks in this game and Southwest had four. After two scoreless halves, the game went into overtime. It took only a minute and 18 seconds into overtime for sophomore Jena Berkland to break through the Mustangs defensive line and go top right corner to win the game for the Golden Bears. 
 
BEMIDJI STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Bears hold an 8-12-2 all-time series record against the Beavers and have won three of the last five matchups. Twelve of the 22 games in the series have been decided by a goal or less, with two games being decided in overtime periods. When playing at home against BSU, Concordia is 5-5-2, with their last win at home being in 2014, when the Bears came away with a 1-0 victory. This will be a huge game for the Golden Bears as BSU won their first ever conference title last season and have gone to the NCAA Tournament the past two years in a row.
 
LAST MEETING VS BSU
Last season the Bears traveled to Bemidji and lost to the Beavers 3-0. The Golden Bears were outshot 12-4 in the game as Bemidji recorded eight shots on net and Concordia recorded two. Brooke Salo recorded two shots with one on goal and Jordan Rowan-Stafford recorded a shot on goal as well for the Bears. Jordyn Clark played the whole 90 minutes and made five saves against the Beavers. It was a team effort by Bemidji State as they saw three different freshman score in this game and three different players assisting the goals.
 
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
BSU is currently 8-2-1 overall and remains unbeaten in the NSIC with a 7-0-1 record and a 5-2 record on the road this season. The Beavers have won seven games in a row entering Friday night's contest against the Golden Bears, most recently defeating Minot State 3-1 and UMary 1-0 (2OT) this past weekend in Bemidji, Minn.
 
The Beavers are without their programs leading scorer and All-American Rachael Norton this season as she graduated following a year in which she scored 20 goals and recorded 49 points. They are also without their second leading scorer from a year ago in Ally Smith as she is currently injured. BSU has seen sophomore Sara Wendt step up in Smith's absence as she leads the beavers with seven goals and 15 points. Junior Alanna Mattson is second on the team with three goals, senior Melanie Peltier has two goals and three assists with 21 shots and Megan Majewski leads the team with four assists for the Beavers. 
 
Junior Emma Riedi and freshman Alyssa Stumbaugh have split time in net this season for the Beavers. Stumbaugh has played in 563 minutes with 25 saves for a .833 save percentage and .80 goals against average. Riede has played in 470 minutes this season with 22 saves for a .880 save percentage and .57 goals against average. 
 
As a team, Bemidji State takes an average of 11.6 shots per game with a .500 shots on goal percentage and they score an average of 1.36 goals per game. The Beavers are currently tied for third in the conference in goals allowed, holding opponents to an average of 0.73 goals per game.
 
MINNESOTA CROOKSTON SERIES HISTORY
In their series history, the Bears hold a 13-6-2 record against the Golden Eagles. When playing at home the Bears are 7-3-1, the Bears defeated the Eagles 3-0 at home back in 2017. In the past five years, CSP has 2-1-2 record against Minnesota Crookston, which includes two 0-0 ties.
 
LAST MEETING VS UMC
The Golden Bears played Minnesota Crookston in Crookston last season, defeating them 2-0. CSP held a dominant 24-3 shot advantage, allowing no shots in the second half and only three shots on goal throughout the entire 90 minutes.
 
Jordan Rowan-Stafford struck first for the Bears in the first half as she took a pass from Jena Berkland and found one of the corners of the net to score her fourth goal of the season in the 21^st minute of play. In the Second half it was Rowan-Stafford again as she scored her second goal of the game in the 72^nd minute of play, she was assisted by Cayla Renwick. Emily Nelson recorded the shutout victory for the Golden Bears making three saves in the 90 minutes she played. Rowan-Stafford recorded 10 shots throughout the game with five shots on goal. Brooke Salo, Jena Berkland, Jade Weller and Katri Gifford all recorded a shot on goal. 
 
ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Minnesota Crookston is 0-7 on the year and 0-6 in conference play so far this season. Minnesota Crookston has not won a game since September 23^rd of last year when they defeated Upper Iowa 1-0 in Fayette, Iowa.  The team is most recently coming off a 0-0 tie with UMary and a 4-0 loss against Minot State. The Eagles will travel to Mankato, Minnesota on Friday to take on the Mavericks before heading to St. Paul to play the Golden Bears on Sunday. 
 
Junior Maggie Peterson leads the team with one goal, one assist for three points on the season. Kiya Gere has also recorded a goal and Samantha Donnay has an assist on the season for the Eagles. Goalkeeper Athena DiMario Done has seen the most action in net for the Minnesota Crookston. She has played in seven games, playing 554 minutes, facing 149 shots and making 57 saves for a .722 save percentage. 

The team averages 4.1 shots and 0.29 goals per game. On average, the defense allows 3.14 goals and 21.9 shots per game. 
 
KEY STATS
- The Golden Bears recorded their eighth shutout as a team this past Sunday when they defeated SMSU 1-0 in OT.
- Jordyn Clark recorded her seventh (7.1) shutout of the season after Sunday's 1-0 victory over the Mustangs. It was her 12^th (12.2) shutout of her career. 
- Hannah Pedersen leads the team in points (13), she is also tied for second on the team with Leah Johnson for goals (4) and Pedersen also leads with team in assists (5). 
- Nikki Anderson leads the team with five goals.
- Katie Anderson has three goals and two assists. 
- Jena Berkland scored her second game winning goal of the season on Sunday and the fifth of her career. 
- Hannah Pavek recorded her second assist of the season in Friday's 3-1 victory. That is the most assists she has had in her career and now has four total assists in her career. 
- The Bears are third in the NSIC in total shots with 188, second in the league in assists with 21, third in the league with 20 goals and third in the league with 61 points. 
- The Golden Bears defense is second in the NSIC in goals against average with .45.
- CSP also is tied for first in the NSIC with eight shutouts.
- Jordyn Clark ranks second in the NSIC with a .886 save percentage. 
- Hannah Pedersen is fourth in the NSIC in points (13) and is tied for third in the NSIC with five assists and is seventh in the NSIC in goals (4). 
- Leah Johnson is seventh in the NSIC in assists (4), sixth in the NSIC in goals (4) and sixth in the NSIC in points (12). 
- Nikki Anderson is fifth in the NSIC in goals (5). 
 
If you are unable to make it to Sea Foam Stadium for this weekend's NSIC soccer action, you can watch the games free of charge or follow along with live stats. Both of those links can be found on the soccer schedule page.