ST. PAUL, Minn. – Following a successful non-conference portion of the season, coming away with a 3-0 record, the Concordia-St. Paul soccer team will now set its sights on conference opponents, starting with the Upper Iowa Peacocks (0-2-1, 0-0-0 NSIC) and the Winona State Warriors (1-1-0, 0-0-0 NSIC).
 
The Golden Bears' will be on the road for their first NSIC matchups, as CSP will travel back to Fayette, Iowa to face Upper Iowa on Friday, September 20^that 4 p.m. for their conference opener and then travel to Winona to take on the Winona State Warriors on Sunday, September 22nd at 1 p.m.
 
The 3-0 record that the Golden Bears take into conference play, will mark the second year in a row that the Bears have started the year with 3-0, last year's squad went on to win their first five contests in a row. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Bears closed out their non-conference schedule with a weekend sweep over Parkside and Davenport. On Friday, September 13^thCSP got out to fast start thanks to senior attacker, Leah Johnson. Johnson had a career game scoring two goals in the first half to help give the Golden Bears the early lead. Hannah Pedersen had the assist on Johnson's first goal. In the second half junior, Kiara Myers scored her first goal of the season with an assist by Jena Berkland. The Bears defense and goalkeeper Jordyn Clark helped secure the victory with a shutout performance. They only allowed seven shots on net in 90 minutes of play. Clark recorded her second win of the season and her second shutout of the year and the seventh in her career (7.1). She also made a career high seven saves while facing 17 total shots.
 
The Rangers made it interesting though as they outshot the Golden Bears in both the first and second half with a 9-5 edge in the first half and an 8-7 edge in the second half. The Bears edged out the Rangers in shots on goal during the game with eight shots on net to the Parkside's seven. Parkside had chances with two corner kicks during the game, but the Golden Bears defense defended their zone well. Lara Ferrari played the first 45 minutes making one save for the Rangers in net, and Adrianna Bratel played in goal in the second half for Parkside making four saves. 
 
It was a dog fight on Sunday as early goals in the first half helped the Golden Bears escape with a 3-2 victory over Davenport. CSP got goals from three different players, Hannah Pedersen scored the first goal to get the Bears up early in the first half, she was assisted by Leah Johnson, it was Pedersen's first goal of the season and Johnsons first assist of the year. The Panthers would answer back as Ashlyn Skidmore scored her first goal of the season to tie the game 1-1 twelve minutes into the game. At the 16-minute mark, freshman Nikki Anderson scored on a pass from Hannah Pedersen to give CSP a 2-1 lead. This was Anderson's first collegiate career goal. The Bears would finish the first half with another goal going up 3-1, this time it was sophomore Jena Berkland who scored on a pass from senior defenseman, Hannah Pavek. It was Berklands first goal of the year and Pavek's first assist on the season as well.
 
It was a back and forth game in the second half as the score remained the same until the 63^rdminute of play when the Panthers Natalia Casiello took a pass from her teammate Ashlyn Skidmore and shot it past Jordyn Clark to make it a 3-2 game. Clark and the Bear's defense held down the fort for the remining 27 minutes to secure CSP's 3-2 victory. The Golden Bears outshot the Panthers in the first half 8-5, but Davenport edged out Concordia in the second half in shots with eight to Concordia's four. CSP did have 10 total shots on net during the game and Davenport had eight. Both goalkeeper's, Jordyn Clark for the Bears and Samantha Beckles for the Panthers each faced one corner kick. Clark played all 90 minutes and made six saves while facing 13 total shots, Beckles also played 90 minutes and recorded seven saves while facing 12 shots. 
 
UPPER IOWA SERIES HISTORY 
Heading into this weekend's matchup, the Golden Bears have a 8-8 record against Upper Iowa, including a 3-2 record in their past five meetings. Eleven of the 16 games between these two teams have been especially close, being decided by one goal, and four of the contests needed at least one overtime to decide a winner. The Bears started playing Upper Iowa in 2004 and began the series with three straight wins, all of which were in St. Paul. The Bears are 3-3 in their history against the Peacocks in Fayette.
 
LAST MEETING VS UIU
The Golden Bears were victorious in last year's meeting with Upper Iowa, winning 2-1 at Sea Foam Stadium on September 14^th, 2018. It was CSP who got on the board first, as Brook Salo headed in a goal off a corner kick from Mary Kaiser in the fifth minute of play. The Peacocks answered before the end of the first half, in the 33^rdminute Katie Samuels, scored on a free kick that was 15 yards out to tie the game. In the second half, Jordan Rowan-Stafford took a pass from Leah Johnson to beat both the defender and keeper in the box to put Concordia up 2-1 in the 59^thminute of play. The Golden Bear goalkeeper, Jordyn Clark, made five saves to help the Bears secure the victory. CSP held a 12-9 margin in shots, and a 7-6 margin in shots on goal.
 
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
Upper Iowa is currently 0-2-1 on the year, they tied 1-1 in their first game of the year against William Jewell College, They were shutout in both games this past weekend, first by Davenport, losing 1-0, then to Parkside, losing 2-0. 
 
This year's roster features 17 returning players and six freshmen. They have scored one goal so far, coming from freshman Aimee Kemper. The Peacocks have started sophomore Natalie Rudrud in goal for all three of their games, she has made 23 saves for an .852 save percentage.
 
In their first three games, the Peacocks have been outshot 58-44, and has posted a .432 shot on goal percentage and their opponents' have posted a .517 percentage. The Peacock's have not scored a goal in their last 188 minutes of play going into Friday's matchup against  the Golden Bears.  
 
WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Warriors have had a pretty strong hold on the series with CSP, winning 24 of the 29 games. Despite only defeating Winona State four times in the past 23 years that they have played them, the Bears have won three in the past five matchups and have beaten them two years in a row now, including a 1-0 win last season. The series opened with a tie between the two teams in 1995, but from there Winona won the next 11 straights. In the overall series, CSP has won against the Warriors twice on the road and twice at home.
 
LAST MEETING VS WSU
The Bears hosted the Warriors for their last matchup, defeating them 1-0. Brooke Salo scored the lone goal for the Golden Bears, it was a left foot shot from ten yards out that snuck past Warrior keeper Jordan Valkner, Salo was assisted by Kati Gifford in the 47-minute mark. This would be the only goal that CSP would need. Concordia held a 15-14 advantage in shots and held the Warriors to only four shots on goal, all of which were saved by Jordyn Clark.
 
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State is 1-1 on the year, losing to Bemidji State 2-1 before defeating Northern Michigan 3-2. The Warriors travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin for their final non-conference matchup against the Parkside Rangers today at 2 p.m. The team finished the 2018 season with an 8-8-1 record (8-6-1 NSIC), falling to Augustana 4-1 in the NSIC Tournament. The Warriors will take on nationally ranked Minnesota State on Friday, September 20^th in Winona, before welcoming the Golden Bears on Sunday, September 22^nd.  

The Warriors return 21 players from their 2018 roster and add 10 new faces. Two games into their season, Winona has had three different players score, junior Georgette Topalis leads the team with two goals while senior Courtney Wiencek and junior Camryn Cadiz each have one goal on the season. Sophomore goalkeeper Yanel Ortiz has played all 180 minutes in net, recording seven saves for a .636 save percentage.
 
So far, the Warriors have been outshot by their opponents 28-25, putting 15 of their 25 shots on goal through the first two contests. The team as a whole has a .600 shot on goal percentage, while opponents average .393 shots on goal percentage against them.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
If you are unable to make it out to Fayette or Winona, the games can be watched online, and live stats will be available as well. Links for live streaming and for live stats can be found on the Golden Bears soccer schedule web page.