ST. PAUL, Minn. – After a home and away game this past weekend, the #20 Concordia-St. Paul soccer team (14-1-2, 11-1-2 NSIC) has a chance to clinch the NSIC conference title in their biggest match in program history against #13 Minnesota State (15-2, 12-2 NSIC) on Friday November 8^th at 1 p.m. In Mankato, Minnesota. This will be the Golden Bears last regular season game of the season and this game will decide the NSIC conference champion. 
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Concordia guarantees a first round home playoff game which would be the third time in program history and the first time since 2006. If the Golden Bears win on Friday then they will capture their first ever conference championship in program history, and their first ever win against Minnesota State. If CSP and Minnesota State tie and Augustana defeats Wayne State then Concordia will finish in third and Minnesota State and Augie will be tied for first place. If Mankato defeats the Golden Bears and Augie wins then CSP will move down to third, but if Augustana loses to Wayne State then Concordia will stay in second place. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Bears are coming off a 1-1 weekend, where they defeated Wayne State 1-0 on Friday night in St. Paul, before suffering their first loss of the season in a 3-2 battle with Augustana in Sioux Falls on a rainy Sunday afternoon. With their first loss of the season, Concordia slides down into second place in the NSIC with 35 total points. Minnesota State sits in first with 36 conference points, Augustana is in third place with 24 conference points, Bemidji State is in fourth with 31 points and St. Cloud State sits in fifth with 26 points. 
 
In Friday night's matchup, CSP dominated much of the possession, holding a 17-3 edge in shots while holding the Wildcats to zero shots on goal. Wayne State played a tight defensive style holding the Golden Bears to only three shots on net. After a scoreless first half, Katie Anderson stepped up in the 70^th minute taking a pass from Hannah Pedersen and took a shot from outside of the box, her line drive shot found the left side of the net to put the Golden Bears up 1-0. This was Anderson's team leading seventh goal and Pedersen's NSIC leading 11^th assist. The Golden Bear defense shut down the Wildcats and recorded their seventh straight win and their sixth straight shutout. 

In Sunday's game at Augustana, the Vikings struck first within the first minute with a goal by Morgan Keirstead. This goal snapped CSP's 589 scoreless minute streak and also their six-game shutout streak. The Golden Bears responded when Nikki Anderson scored her seventh goal of the season in the 10^th minute to tie the game 1-1 on an assist by Hannah Pavek, this was Pavek's fourth assist of the season. Eight minutes later Morgan Keirstead struck again with her second goal of the game in the 18^th minute to put the Vikings up again 2-1. At the start of the second half, Concordia came out strong with a game tying goal a minute and 51 seconds into the half by Hannah Pedersen. This was Pedersen's sixth goal of the season. Once again Augustana struck back with a goal two minutes later by Bailey Parsons to put the Vikings up 3-2. Despite the Golden Bears outshooting the Vikings 9-6 the rest of the half and 21-15 in the game, Augie handed Concordia their first loss of the season and their first since October 31^st of last year. This was the first game the Golden Bears allowed three goals all season.
 
MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Bears are looking for their first win over the Mavericks, as Minnesota State has been victorious in all 18 of their meetings. CSP went 0-2 last year against Minnesota State losing 3-1 at home in the regular season and then 4-0 in Mankato in the first round of the NSIC playoffs, eliminating the Golden Bears for the rest of the playoffs in the 2018 season. 
 
LAST MEETING WITH MSU
In their last matchup the Golden Bears faced off with the Mavericks in the first round of the NSIC tournament in Mankato, Minnesota. The Mavericks struck first in the 14^th minute when Morgan Cottew scored on a ball from Abby Hausken. The Golden Bears held the Mavericks scoreless the rest of the half. Ten minutes into the second half Morgan Cottew scored on a ball from Molly Riley to put Minnesota State up 2-0. The Mavericks would score two more in the half with goals from Jenny Vetter and Cassidy Joyce to send Minnesota State to a 4-0 victory which would end the Golden Bears 2018 season.
 
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State is 15-2 on the year and 12-2 in conference play. Currently they sit in first place in the NSIC only one point ahead of CSP. Entering Friday's game, the Mavericks are coming off a big weekend defeating both Augustana (2-1) on Friday and Wayne State (4-0) on Sunday. Their two losses of the year were against St. Cloud State (2-1, 2OT) and UMary (2-1). 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, 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 56 goals and have only given up 10 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 15 goals while dishing out seven assists for 37 points. Brynn Desens leads the team with 11 assists and also has seven goals for 25 points, Allie Willams is second on the team with nine 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 15 games with a 13-1 record facing 136 shots making 53 saves for a .884 save percentage and a .51 goals against average. 
 
Minnesota State leads the NSIC in shots (378), shots on goal (196), goals (56), assists (51), combined team points (163) and is second behind CSP and UMary in goals against average with a .59 average. 
 
KEY STATS
-Hannah Pedersen leads the team with 11 assists, she is tied with Brynn Desens of Minnesota State for the most assists in the NSIC this season and is tied for fourth in the NCAA for most assists. 
-Katie Anderson and Nikki Anderson lead the team with seven goals.
-Jordyn Clark recorded her 10^th shutout of the season (10.3) in the 1-0 victory over Wayne State, she tied for 5^th in the NCAA in shutouts and she leads the NSIC in shutouts.
-CSP is now tied with UMary for the lead in goals against average in the NSIC with a .47, and are 14^th in the NCAA in goals against average. 
-CSP is second in the NSIC in points (37), assists (31), and points.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
If you are unable to make it to Mankato on Friday, the game can be watched online, free of charge at www.cspbears.com/watch. Live statistics will also be available which can be found on the team's schedule page.