ST. PAUL, Minn. – The #20 Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (17-1-2, 12-1-2 NSIC) get ready to take on #13 Minnesota State (16-3-1, 12-3-0 NSIC) in the NSIC Championship game tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at Sea Foam Stadium. 
 
This will be the first time in program history that the Golden Bears will be playing in the NSIC Championship game. CSP defeated Minnesota State last Friday afternoon in Mankato to capture their first ever NSIC Regular Season Championship and their first ever win over the Mavericks as they were previously 0-18 in their matchup history. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
In the semifinal game against St. Cloud State it was a back and forth fight as the game had to be decided in overtime. Golden Bears had 16 shots with seven on net and the Huskies had 15 with nine on net throughout the game.
 
In the first half it was pretty evenly match as each team had six shots and the Huskies had five on goal to the Golden Bears three. The Golden Bears possessed the ball 59% of the time during the first half and also had four corner kicks. In the 10^th minute of play the Huskies had an opportunity as Jenna Dominguez took a shot that was saved by Jordyn Clark shuffling to her left. St. Cloud State had another opportunity in the 15^th minute as Kaitlyn Dzubinski tried to go bottom left again but Clark was there to make the save. In the 28^th minute Jackie Ehlert shot one from far out trying to catch keeper Zoe Welsh off guard, but Welsh was able to shut the door on Ehlert. Towards the end of the half in the 44^th minute, Golden Bear freshman Katie Anderson tried to get CSP on the board before half time, she took a shot low on Welsh, but the Huskie Keeper made the sliding save and the game was scoreless at halftime. 
 
Jordyn Clark had five saves and faced six shots in the first half of play and Zoe Welsh had three saves while facing six shots for the Huskies in the first half.
 
In the second half the Huskies came out flying, in the 49^th minute Kristine Knife tried to go up top against Jordyn Clark to open the half, but Clark made the nice save. It wasn't until the 65^th minute when Katie Anderson took a great shot from outside of the box that rang off the crossbar and fell onto the line and Nikki Anderson was there to put away the goal and get the Golden Bears up 1-0 in the game. It was a very back and forth and aggressive game from that point on, both teams had chances but when the Golden Bears were 30 seconds away from victory Kaitlyn Dziubinski received a cross in the box and made a move to get a clear shooting lane and buried it in the right side of the net to tie the game up 1-1 for St. Cloud State which would send the Golden Bears and the Huskies into overtime. 
 
Jordyn Clark made two saves and faced seven shots in the second half and Zoe Welsh made one save and also faced seven shots in the second half.
 
In the first overtime the Huskies outshot the Golden Bears 2-1 and each team had a corner kick. Neither team had a great scoring opportunity in the first overtime and both Clark and Welsh made one save. In the second overtime the Golden Bears took control of the period and had two shots and held the Huskies to zero shots. In the 106^th minute of play, Nikki Anderson received a cross from Hannah Pedersen on the other side of the box and made a nice move around a Huskies defender and fired a shot that found the top back right side of the net to win the game for Concordia and to send them to a championship match against the Mavericks on Sunday afternoon.  
 
Jordyn Clark recorded her 17^th win of the season playing in all 107 minutes facing 15 shots and making eight saves. Zoe Welsh took the loss and made five saves while facing 16 in the 107 minutes she played. 
 
MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Bears are looking for their second consecutive win over the Mavericks, as the Golden Bears defeated Minnesota State for the first time in program history last Friday in Mankato. With that victory Concordia won the NSIC Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history. Mankato holds a 18-1 all-time record against CSP. 
 
LAST MEETING WITH MSU
In their last meeting, which was the last game of the regular season, the Mavericks outshot CSP 5-2, but the Golden Bears edged them out with two shots on net to the Mavericks one in the first half. Minnesota State had a few chances with a shot by Brynn Desens that was saved by Jordyn Clark in the 15^th minute of play. In the 18^th minute Jenny Vetter missed the net wide left twice. Hannah Pedersen had an opportunity for the Golden Bears in the 9^th minute when she tried to go low, but it was saved by Alexa Rabune. CSP had another opportunity in the 27^th minute when Haleigh Bares tried to find the back of the net from deep outside the box but Alexa Rabune made the leaping save to keep it a scoreless game. Jordyn Clark made one save and faced five shots and two corner kicks in the first half. Alexa Rabune made two saves in 45 minutes of the first half. 
 
The quality of play was a little more equal in the second half as each team had four shots with each putting two on net. In the 74^th minute, Katie Anderson made a few moves outside of the box, found an open lane a took a rocket of a shot which found the top left corner of the net and over the glove of a leaping Rabune to put the Golden Bears up 1-0 in the game. This was Anderson's team leading eighth goal of the season. In the 79^th minute Jenny Vetter tried to tie the game up for the Mavericks, but it was saved by Jordyn Clark. In the start of the 86^th minute Minnesota State had three corner kicks in a row and had two scoring chances but the Golden Bears defense and a huge save by Jordyn Clark helped put the game away for the Golden Bears, sealing their first ever regular season conference championship. 
 
Jordyn Clark made three saves in this game earning her 11^th shutout of the season (11.3) and her 15^th win on the season. Alexa Rabune made three saves and took the loss in her 90 minutes of play. 

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State is 16-3-1 on the year and 12-3 in conference play. Currently they sit in third in the NCAA Central Region rankings. Entering Sunday's championship game, the Mavericks are coming off a big semifinal victory over Augustana defeating them 3-0, they also defeated UMary in a shootout in the quarterfinal round. Their three losses of the year were against St. Cloud State (2-1, 2OT), UMary (2-1) and Concordia (1-0). The Golden Bears and the Mavericks have played all the same conference opponents so far this year, and have both defeated Winona State, Minnesota Duluth, Minot State, Southwest Minnesota State, Sioux Falls, Minnesota Crookston, Bemidji State, Northern State, MSU Moorhead, and Wayne State but defeated Upper Iowa and Augustana, unlike the Bears. CSP has defeated St. Cloud State twice, unlike the Mavericks. At the beginning of the year, Minnesota State defeated both #4 Central Missouri (2-0) and #2 Grand Valley State (1-0) in their non-conference games. 
 
The Mavericks have scored 60 goals and have only given up 12 goals so far this season, with nine different players contributing two or more goals and six other players with one goal. Jenny Vetter leads the team with 17 goals while dishing out seven assists for 41 points. Brynn Desens leads the team with 12 assists and also has seven goals for 26 points, Allie Willams is second on the team with 10 goals and Nadia Lowery and Bri Ciaccio each have five goals on the season as well. 
 
Alexa Rabune has seen the majority of time in net this season for the Mavericks. She has played in 18 games with a 14-2-1 record facing 161 shots making 62 saves for a .873 save percentage and a .53 goals against average. 
 
Minnesota State leads the NSIC in shots (432), shots on goal (220), goals (60), assists (54), combined team points (174) and is third behind CSP and UMary in goals against average with a .60 average. 
 
The championship game will start at 2 p.m. at Sea Foam Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Both live stats and live stream will be available for this game, the links can be found on the soccer teams schedule page.