ST. PAUL, Minn. - Playing in their first-ever postseason contest, fourth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse (11-6) cruised to a 15-9 GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal victory over the fifth seed Davenport (8-9) on a cool, wet spring evening at Sea Foam Stadium.
Concordia will now head to top seed and semifinal/championship host #11 Indianapolis on Friday, May 3 for a 3 p.m. (CT) game in the conference tournament semifinals. CSP improves to 5-0 all-time against Davenport, defeating the Panthers twice in the last three days. Concordia is winless in four meetings against UIndy and will playing in Indianapolis for the second time in program history, last falling to the Greyhounds on the road in 2018.
Concordia's three junior 100 career goal scorers,
Kailey Heinl (29:20),
Alina Boyce (24:59) and
Maddie Hentges (22:52) scored the game's first three goals in just over seven minutes of play, with Boyce assisting on the other two goals, to build a 3-0 lead that the team would maintain the rest of the way.
Junior goalie
Katie Lottsfeldt was a force in goal to protect the lead, making a season high 18 saves, just two shy of her career high and the program single game record set during her freshman year in 2017. The 18 saves also set the single season record with 136, topping her freshman mark of 133 when she was the squad's lone goalie. She also had seven ground balls to help the team secure possession, leading to 23-of-24 on clear attempts.
She registered a .667 save percentage in the win.
The Lottsfeldt performance was vital to the playoff win, as Davenport attempted more shots (33) than Concordia (31), but CSP registered more saves (18) than the Panthers (10).
Concordia built a four goal margin, 5-1, midway through the half (18:11) before the Panthers cut the margin to 6-3 at the half and scored first in the second half to make it a two goal game (6-4) with 29:25 to play.
From there, Boyce took back over, responding with her third goal of the night and 50th of the season to spark a 5-0 scoring spurt in which she added another goal and an assist. It was part of a seven point scoring performance to give her 70 on the season, becoming the first Golden Bear to 50 goals and the first to 70 points in a single season.
Hentges kept pace, though, scoring four second half goals as part of a six goal game to give her 53 on the season as the duo continue to pile up goals late in the season. While Boyce was first to 50, Hentges now has a team-high 53 goals on the year.
Boyce's three assist game, combined with freshman
Sara McNicoll's one, push them into a tie for the single season assists record with 19 each to tie Hentges' 2018 sophomore mark.
Heinl also had a three-point game for CSP, scoring twice and assisting on another.
Once Concordia poured on the five straight goals, extending its lead to 11-4, the seven goal cushion was too large for Davenport to overcome with 11:34 to play.
The defensive starters for CSP,
Lexi Stanley,
Sara Stickler,
Cassidy Leininger and
Kylie Christensen, combined for 10 ground balls and six caused turnovers led by Stanley's four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Stickler added three ground balls and two caused turnovers, as well.
Aaliyah Miller led Davenport with five goals while Ryann Deuel had two goals and an assist. Amber Park and Brenna Knoll helped the Panthers to an 18-8 advantage on the draw with six and five draw controls, respictively. Makenna Pitchford took the loss in net, saving 10 shots while allowing 15 goals.