ST. PAUL, Minn. – Top-seeded #20 Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (16-1-2) advanced to the NCAA Tournament semifinals with an opening round 2-0 win over eighth-seeded Wayne State (6-9-4) on Wednesday afternoon at Sea Foam Stadium. This was Concordia's first playoff win at home since 2006 when they defeated MSU Moorhead in the quarterfinal game, this was the Golden Bears first playoff win at Sea Foam Stadium. CSP will now host fifth-seeded St. Cloud State on Friday at 2 p.m.
 
With the win, CSP grabbed their first postseason win since defeating Wayne State in 2006 in the third-place game. Sea Foam Stadium will play host to both semifinal matchups as second-seeded Minnesota State will take on third-seeded Augustana at 11 a.m. on Friday prior to Concordia's meeting with SCSU at 2 p.m. The winners of both of those contests will meet in the championship on Sunday at 2 p.m., also at Sea Foam Stadium.

NCAA TOURNAMENT PICTURE
The third NCAA Women's Soccer Regional Rankings have been released and the NSIC continues to have five teams ranked in the central region. Concordia-St. Paul rose a spot to second while Minnesota State dropped to third. Augustana stayed steady in fourth while Bemidji State fell from seventh to eighth.  The University of Mary remained ninth in the final ranking. The NCAA Women's Soccer selection show will be streamed online on Monday, Nov. 18 at NCAA.com at 5 p.m. (CT). The top two teams in the region would be the favorite to host the first round of the NCAA tournament when rankings come out next week. 

The NSIC, the Mid-America Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC) make up the 35-team NCAA Central Region.   The top seven teams in the region will advance to the NCAA region tournament on November 23 & 25 and December 6 & 8.  Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining four spots awarded on an at-large basis.

The 2019 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship will take place on December 12, 14 in Pittsburgh and will be hosted by Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and SportsPITTSBURGH.
 
GAME RECAP
The Golden Bears got off to a fast start in the first half, they possessed the ball 56% of the time in the first half along with outshooting the Wildcats 13-3 and 7-1 in shots on goal. In the 15^th minute Leah Johnson took a pass from Hannah Pavek and found the back of the net to give the Golden Bears an early 1-0 lead. This Johnson's fifth goal of the season and Pavek's fifth assist. Five minutes later Hannah Pedersen sent a ball into the box and it bounced of Leah Johnson's head and found Nikki Anderson foot and she tipped it in to give CSP a 2-0 lead. This was Anderson's eighth goal of the season, tying her with Katie Anderson for the team lead. This was Pedersen's 12^th assist and Johnson's fifth. In the 33^rd minute Rylie Wehner had a shot on goal, but Jordyn Clark made the save to shut out the first half. Clark faced three shots and made one save while facing one corner kick in the first 45 minutes. Rachel Grisham faced 13 shots and made five saves in the first half.

In the second half Wayne State tightened up their defense and held the Golden Bears to just four shots with three on net, the Wildcats had three shots with two on goal. In the 47^th minute Madison Kemp had a chance for Wayne State and tried to go low, but it was saved on Jordyn Clark. In the 62^nd minute Rylie Wehner gave the Wildcats another scoring chance as she tried to go bottom right corner, but it was saved by a shuffling Clark. Jena Berkland had a chance in the 68^th minute but it was saved by Grisham. In the 74^th minute Leah Johnson tried to get her second goal of the game, but Grisham made the save to keep the Wildcats in the game. But once again the Golden Bear defense and Jordyn Clark shut the door and the Golden Bears recorded their 15^th shutout of the season and they will move on to face St. Cloud State in the semifinal matchup.

Jordyn Clark played all 90 minutes and faced six shots making six saves earning her 16^th win of the season and her 12^th shutout (12.2). Rachel Grisham played all 90 minutes making eight saves while facing 17 shots and suffering her ninth loss. 
Nikki Anderson led the offense with four shots and two on goal, Leah Johnson had three shots with two on goal and Haleigh Bares had three shots with one on goal. Jena Berkland also collected three shots with two on goal, Hannah Pedersen had two shots with two on goal and Sammie Zgutowicz and Emily Boyer each had a shot in this game.

Head coach Steve Bellis commented on his team playoff win, "Fantastic job done by the team in the first half to put enough distance between us. We are so excited to advance in the next round and to have the chance to play at home in front of our fans and our school." 

The Golden Bears and Huskies will kick off on Friday at 2 p.m. at Sea Foam Stadium. Both live stats and live stream will be available for the game, the links can be found on the team's schedule page.